Lessons from Lancaster for ODM and PNU

• Those telling us to accept a half-baked draft and change it later are lost

We must avoid this disease. Those telling us to accept a half-baked draft and change it later have not read history. Nations that treat the constitution as a ‘‘holy’’ document survive. Those who amend it at will perish. That is a bankable fact of history.

Allow me to give the fourth lesson by way of a story. There once lived two naughty boys aged 12 and eight. The neighbours complained about them, and so the parents decided to take them to the local priest for mentorship. The priest chose to deal with them one by one.

And so, he started with the elder brother. The little boy walked into the church and was asked a random question, “You, where is God!”. The idea was to teach him that God is present everywhere. But the boy said nothing. The priest got closer to him, raised his voice and asked again “Where is God!”

At this moment, the boy took off. He ran straight to his younger brother at home and announced; “We are in big trouble!” His brother replied, “But we haven’t done anything!” The big brother responded in fear: “God is missing, and they think we did it!”

What is the Lancaster lesson here? Our politicians are like the naughty boys. They are ‘‘sinners’’ beyond. Their fears control what they see and what they hear. Currently, they are afraid of 2012.

And this is what they are hearing: ‘‘Those opposed to this constitution will lose in 2012!’’ In my view, this is a voice of fear. In fact, the winner in 2012 could be the person who will oppose this process on the basis of principle.

mutahi@myself.com