Nothing should be allowed to derail the new constitution

At the very least such devolution will sow seeds of future discord and instability since they will not improve cohesion but just deepen the tribal divide.

The committee should have drawn on the sobering lessons of the 2005 referendum, and 2007/8 post-election violence to professionally trump the parochial politics of the moment by coming up with rationalised regions that make political sense by integrating ethnic communities and are also economically viable.

FOR EXAMPLE, AS SHOWN IN THE map, some governance experts have suggested that Kenya should be subdivided equally into five new devolved regions after the eight provinces are abolished. Being the basis of aggregating power, the people, not the State, should be sovereign under the new constitution.

Therefore, the new constitution must guarantee people-driven governance as a further constitutional check on the government. In other words, we must have a robust Bill of Rights and an independent and effective Judiciary to enforce them.

Finally, contentious issues will be no more than minor speed bumps on the road to the new constitution if, instead of incoherently dancing around obstacles, the committee creatively uses the people to trump them.

Hence, referendum questions must allow Kenyans to simultaneously vote on and decide each contentious issue, such as the system of governance, as they ratify the Final Draft Constitution.

Mr Okoiti is a human rights activist.