Kenya's Capability to Reform...all things Constitution

So here we are...yet again...it's a constitutional crisis! We've been through oranges and bananas...what will it be this time? Apples and lemons?

If you are anything like me, this constitutional business is not the easiest to follow...everyday yields a different story, a different proposition, a different amendment suggestion. Currently we sit under 150 different amendments that our good members of parliament (read extreme pan) have suggested for the reform. Did I mention they were all to be debated today, March 31st 2010? How realistic! (Again..read extreme pan). Everything under the sun has been written and documented about the constitutional review process but today, one article in particular caught my eye. KUDOS to the Daily Nation's article on "Our consitution not a job for our politicians alone", dated March 31st, 2010, which urges the mwananchi (ordinary Kenyan citizen) to recognize their own role in the reform process. In this article, the journalist points out that our current constitutional order has been corrupted to deny us our fundamental rights and hinder our progress...a tad harsh perhaps but the truth is said to hurt! For the past 20 or so years, the state of Kenya has remained hostage to tribal elites and it is no different with this reform process. Our 'good' MPs 'courageously' fight for the people's wants and needs with "no claim" to power or tribe...isn't this what they preach every night at 7pm, 9pm and 11pm? (Give it up to the righteousness and loyalty).
In yet another article on related news, we have the Kenya Media Association's chairman sharing his concern with the public on Parliament's incapability to reach a concensus on the new constitution. He urges for the gap to be bridged between MPs so that Kenyans can get the document that we been yearning for, for the longest time. How appropriate a statement (read SARCASM) considering a survey taken by "Synovate Research" on our knowledge of the constitution and its proposed changes shows that majority of us are ignorant of the new draft law. Just how serious is it? Brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen...for only 6% of us are reported to be well informed about the constitution!...if this is not a prime example of the disconnect between the people and parliamentary affairs, I don't know what is.

Our generation has lived through the biggest change in Kenya with the 2002 rainbow coalition election, proof that we can actually work together to get what we want...but alas! Old habbits manifest leading to the banana-orange debacle, the unbelievably violent 2007 election, the IDP situation, mass death...and yet we choose to remain ignorant of the issues that have a direct effect on us. I'm tired of hearing people say they don't care, or they don't want to deal with it...there's nothing we can do... when will we finally begin to hold the political class to account? When will we finally say ENOUGH?