“When the Constitution writing project began in the early 1990s the majority of Kenyans were agreed that power needed to be dispersed and checked by the various arms of government.

But going by the polarisation that has emerged as the deadline for submission by the public of views on the draft closed on Wednesday, this point appears to be escaping the memory of many.

Once again, the process appears to be headed for a stalemate thanks to the short-term interests of the main actors on the political arena.

Yet the jostling for power aside, it must be said that the constitution making project has merely become captive to a lack of leadership.”

It’s pretty basic that the constitutional process has to be about the country not the current crop of individual politicians, but it doesn’t seem there is not much of a source of strong leadership from outside politics and no willingness to lead on this basis from among the politicians.  It would seem that a lot of the burden will rest on civil society if the process is going to lead to a significantly improved new constitution soon.