Ghai heaps praise on draft but cautions on devolution pace

• A former Constitution of Kenya Review Commission chairman, Prof Yash Pal Ghai, does not support a hybrid system of government. He chaired the CKRC from 2000 to 2004, before returning to the University of Hong Kong, where he teaches public law. He argues that only a few countries have had such a system, and they are not successful. Prof Ghai talks with SAMWEL KUMBA.

I do not think we need 70 separate laws: some specified laws have already been made since Bomas (such as children rights, parliamentary reform).
Many items can be accommodated in one piece of legislation. And some items can be achieved merely by amending existing laws.

Many laws will not be contentious once the draft is accepted. The problem is not as serious as it has been made out to be. If a commission on implementation of the Constitution is appointed as recommended in the draft, this task can be accomplished quickly.

Should the CoE (Committee of Experts) have drafted the proposed laws so that they are debated at the same time as the new constitution?

This would have been ideal, and some of it could have been done.

I participated in the making of the independence constitution of Papua New Guinea, and we managed also to draft a fair bit of required legislation which was passed at the same time as the constitution.