Nairobi: Kenyans could vote at another referendum if a new roadmap unveiled on Tuesday gives the country a new constitution within the year.

But there were concerns that voting at another plebiscite only months after a disputed presidential election, which almost ripped the country apart, could further polarise the country.

Pessimists argued that campaigns for or against the document could plunge the country into another round of high stakes political games and brinksmanship. This was witnessed in 2005 at a referendum on the draft constitution, which the Government side lost.

This view appeared grounded in the argument that the Grand Coalition Government, cobbled together to haul the country out of the crippling post-General Election violence, may have not gained a strong foothold in just a year.

On Tuesday, the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee gave the strongest hint yet that the country could have a new constitution in a year and told Kenyans to brace for another referendum battle.

Negotiators at the Serena mediation talks said the referendum was mandatory on a day they unveiled a five-phase roadmap towards a new constitutional dispensation.

The mediators mandated Constitutional Affairs minister, Ms Martha Karua, to within two weeks come up with a draft constitutional referendum Bill, which will form the basis for a new constitution process. This will serve as the first phase of the process.

The urgency of the matter was underlined when the negotiators agreed that the Karua draft be the subject of discussion when the talks resume on May 14.

The constitutional referendum Bill, once passed, will establish the powers of the stakeholders and provide a legal framework for the review process.

Beat one-year deadline

Present at the session of the Serena talks were Cabinet ministers, Mr James Orengo, Ms Karua, Prof Sam Ongeri, Mr Mutula Kilonzo, Mr William Ruto and Mr Moses Wetangula. Dr Sally Kosgey, the Higher Education minister and a member of the team, did not attend.

Speaking to journalists, Mutula said the committee would endeavour to come up with a draft that will midwife a new constitution agreeable to all Kenyans.

"Kenyans have craved for a new constitution for over two decades and we have the opportunity to come with a roadmap," said Mutula.

Deputy PM, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, chaired the talks. The talks co-chair, Mr Oluyemi Adeniji, is in Ethiopia where sources said he was expected to brief the African Union on the progress of the mediation. He will be back today.

"We have resolved that the Constitutional Affairs minister starts to work on the draft and table it before the panel. This will guide be a roadmap towards a new constitutional dispensation," Kilonzo, a member of the talks, told journalists.

He said the new push is meant to beat the one-year deadline set by the committee to come up with comprehensive constitutional review under Agenda Four.

In the run up to last year's poll, President Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga promised to deliver a new constitution within the first year if they won.

But legal experts, constitutional lawyers and politicians cautioned that even though there was need to meet the one-year deadline the top leadership has given itself, care must be taken to ensure the initiative does not drag the nation into more divisions and politics of retrogression.

Former Kabete MP, Mr Paul Muite, and former Nominated MP, Ms Njoki Ndung'u, both lawyers, said what the country needed are minimum reforms to serve as an "escape valve" should the Grand Coalition Government collapse.

"We do not know for how long this Grand Coalition Government will last. That is why we need minimum reforms to look into the electoral laws," Muite, a former chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Review, told The Standard last night.

"Some minimum reforms should be enacted within the current Constitution before embarking on the long journey towards a new document," he said.

The reforms, Muite said, should inject professionalism in the body governing elections - Electoral Commission of Kenya- and focus on judicial reforms.

Former Secretary of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, Dr Patrick Lumumba, welcomed the move, but was of the view that interest groups only needed to tie up the loose ends that previously denied the country a new constitution.

"The powers of the Executive, devolution of power, the land question and human rights issues are reasons Kenyans do not have a new constitution they have always yearned for," Lumumba, a constitutional lawyer and lecturer, stated.

He added: "If this is done with sincerity and goodwill, Kenya should have a new constitution in less than 12 months. It only requires sincerity in approach to the contentious issues that divided the country in the past."

On his part, Mr Kibe Mungai, another constitutional lawyer, lauded the move as the best way forward to break the constitutional deadlock.

"The law has to be in place for the review to be done and the draft subjected to the views of the people. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the recommendation of the committee," said Mungai.

But Ms Ndung'u termed as unrealistic the 12-month time frame. Instead, she proposed that minimum reforms be put in place first before embarking on an overhaul of the constitution.

"It seems like we have not learnt anything from our past. Subjecting the entire document to another referendum will not work," the former Nominated MP argued.

She added: "Parliament should tackle the issue of minimum reforms by introducing them through a Constitutional Amendment Bill. Thereafter, contentious issues should go through a referendum process as single items. Otherwise, matters that people are in agreement with will lead to the rejection of an entire document again."

At Serena, the negotiators agreed on the general parameters and principles, which included five stages in the constitutional review process.

The first stage will be an all-inclusive process initiated and completed within eight weeks to establish a statutory constitutional review, including a timetable.

Under the new roadmap, the negotiators envisaged that the review process would be completed within 12 months after the constitutional referendum law is initiated in Parliament.

The statutory process would then provide for the preparation of a comprehensive draft by stakeholders, similar to the Bomas constitutional conference, with assistance of experts.

After the stakeholders' preparation, the draft will be presented to Parliament for debate and approval then be put to the people for enactment in a referendum.

The journey in search of a new constitution has been loaded with intrigues -murky and tragic.

The clamour for a new constitution was initiated by the civil society and dissenting politicians in the 1980s after Kanu developed dictatorial tendencies.

In 1992, Section 2 (A) was abolished, paving the way for multiparty politics, but left many other aspects of the Constitution intact.

Civil society pushed for a new constitution, and the Kanu regime yielded. A Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution was set up in 2001 chaired by Mr Raila Odinga, now the Prime Minister.

Under the roadmap, the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission was established. Prof Yash Pal Ghai was picked to midwife the process, which hit turbulent waters at the Bomas Constitutional Conference. Mutual suspicion by warring factions in the then ruling Narc coalition was blamed for the debacle.