Women leaders angry over constitutional review delay

A section of women leaders in Kenya has accused members of the country's constitutional review team of trying to delay the review process "for personal gains" after commissioners called for the rewriting of the draft constitution. The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya Chapter) and the League of Kenyan Women (LKWV) said in a statement that such a move was an unnecessary waste of time particularly when Kenyans had invested so much hope in the important process. A group of commissioners within the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC), said at the weekend that the new draft contained many mistakes because its writing had been pegged to the December 2002 elections. The group, led by CKRC vice chairman Idha Salim, said the commission needed more time to incorporate the many recommendations it had received since the draft was released last September. FIDA chairperson Jane Kiragu and LKWV executive director Cecilia Kimemia said that the decision by the commissioners to "disown" the draft, especially at a time when Yashpal Ghai, the commission's chairman, was out of the country, was a sign that the commissioners had been compromised. "We recall that those who are now casting doubts on the draft were party to its finalisation before it was presented to Kenyans for scrutiny and debate. To tell Kenyans that the draft was done in a rush and is therefore not representative of the views of Kenyans is to be dishonest and opportunistic," the statement said. The draft constitution has been a subject of controversy ever since its release. It proposes, among other things, the drastic reduction of the powers of the country's president and addresses the legal loopholes that exist in the current constitution, which was drawn up at independence from Britain in 1963.