- The ODM boss said the party has come up with what the dialogue should be about.
- In the Bomas draft, the executive branch was to be led by a premier who would be the leader of the largest political party in Parliament.
Image: RAILA ODINGA/X
Azimio leader Raila Odinga now says the anticipated national conversation over issues raised by Gen Z could lead to constitutional review.
The opposition boss said the time has come for the country to critically relook at the 2010 Constitution to address existing gaps.
Raila said that a closer look at the Constitution and if need be, change, would allow a progressive nation.
The ODM leader said that while Kenyans gave candid proposals during the collection of views on the review of the Constitution, they were finally mutilated.
“Kenyans met at the Bomas of Kenya and deliberated for a very long time and came up with a very progressive constitution. That constitution was bastardized to a certain extent during the so-called Naivasha process,'' Raila said.
"We must go back to the Bomas draft constitution put it back on the table and see how what needs to be cleaned up so that we can have a progressive constitution."
The ODM leader was speaking in Alego Usonga during the burial of Lawyer Evans Orwenjo on Saturday.
Raila said Kenyans should bring on board the issues raised by Gen Z and incorporate them with the proposals by political parties to give Kenya a better future.
The ODM boss said the party has come up with what the dialogue should be about.
He said the issues raised by youthful protesters are not new as they include those espoused by ODM since last year's protests.
He said they include rampant corruption, unemployment, high cost of living, management of debt and discrimination.
The Bomas draft was a product of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act enacted in 1997 during the regime of President Daniel Moi.
The Bomas Draft contemplated a bicameral legislature with the Senate and the National Assembly operating on a near-equal purview.
The executive branch was to be led by a premier who would be the leader of the largest political party in Parliament.
It was opposed by then-President Kibaki as an affront to the status quo.
After the post-election crisis of 2007/2008, the Committee of Experts was set up with the task of harmonising the previous drafts into a new progressive constitution.
In 2009, the Committee delivered a Harmonised Draft Constitution that borrowed heavily from the Bomas Draft.
But like its predecessor, it would be torn apart by politicians.
The Harmonised Draft Constitution was subjected to a public debate overshadowed by politics.
Nevertheless, the resulting document, the Revised Harmonised Draft Constitution, though weaker, retained most of its crucial elements.
The real damage occurred at Naivasha where the Abdikadir Mohammed-led Parliamentary Select Committee reduced the document to a copy of the rejected Wako Draft.