2015 Harmonised Draft Constitution
Posted by Ego Trip | Posted in constitution , Kenya , Kenyans
It is an hour to midnight, I am dozing off on the couch, and on my left hand is a remote control while the other has the copy of the harmonised draft constitution. The blurring noise from KBC brings me back to my senses. The topic on the evening chat show is about the constitution. For the past two hours I have been trying to read through this humongous document with no success, it is just days to the deadline.
This scene has played over and over in the past one month with each time my mind racing around, back and forth from the constitution to other things of equal importance and to those that are controlled by nature, like sleep and reverie. Am reminded of the first eight weeks at the campus, though the desire to read would engulf me, there was just never a better reason to read, after all, exams were still weeks away.
I shut the telly and flip to the preface of the HD, only God knows how many times I have done that, I have never really had a chance to read past the preface. Am inclined to blaming the 844 systems, probably am too used to reading for exams, so much that my concentration is at its lowest when such issues of probable irrelevance are in my must do. After reading the preface for the umpteenth time, my mind wavers to my laptop. I remember that I do have a shorter edited version of the same draft sent to me by some wannabe Kenya-political spammers. A temptation guides me into looking at the Kiswahili translation of the same, but I win this time round. I open the pdf document, the Kenyan colours though not so enticing, they give me a reason enough to move the mouse.
Click, click and an am on the last page of the document, luckily it is a 23page document, reading from a computer has never been my favourite, but in such circumstances, it is the best. You can actually cover a whole book in one second by just clicking on the last page. The only word I remember seeing is the word PRIME. Am done reading, were it an exam, I would probably need sections of the draft scribbled on my thighs.
I click on the shutdown button and retire to bed. Hopefully I will have a better luck next time. I hereby promise myself to read the next Harmonised Draft, hopefully in 2015, my workload will be low.
My requests or recommendations for the next draft and to the Committee of Experts, is that the process ought to be split into two. One to cater for Political and Governance aspects of the constitution, the other to focus mostly on way of life. We would then have two separate drafts to read at different times. We would then easily pass into the constitution all those issues that are important and are less volatile but continue to suffer at the expense of politically charged clauses.
For the 2015 draft, let them set a mandatory examination to all Kenyans, especially those who went through the eight minus four minus four system. This will guarantee that we all read it. Let them allow us to use all necessary paraphanelia, mwakenya, to pass the exams. If need be, results from the political class should then be published for all to see.
My 2cents
