By Sarah Mcgregor and
Franz Wild
Bloomberg News

Kenyan lawmakers will be presented with a rewritten constitution this week that aims to avoid a repeat of post-election violence two years ago by limiting presidential powers and curbing abuses of authority.
Discussion about the document comes amid a dispute between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga over the extent of their powers. The two formed a coalition government in February 2008 to end ethnic clashes in which 1,500 people died and 300,000 were forced to flee their homes.
Kenya, East Africa's biggest economy, is under pressure from donors including the United States and other Western nations to undertake constitutional changes that were promised in the power-sharing accord. Failure to implement them may lead to the country having its credit rating cut and serve as a deterrent to investors.
"The previous constitution was something that only centralized power in the presidency and narrowed space for civic freedoms," Shadrack Gutto, a Kenyan-born analyst at the University of South Africa, said in an interview this week from Pretoria. "If the constitution doesn't pass, the same rot will go on, with rampant corruption and the abuse of power. If it isn't passed the cycle of violence could very well recur."
Kibaki said he met coalition partner Prime Minister Raila Odinga at his office in the capital Nairobi this week and agreed that passing a new constitution is a legislative "priority."
"The consultations centered on a wide range of issues touching on the grand coalition government," Kibaki said in an e-mailed statement this week. There was agreement "on the need to give priority to the constitution-making process in order to give Kenyans a new and unifying document."
Kenya's original constitution, the president holds most of the political power and control over resources. That has deepened rivalries among the country's more than 42 ethnic groups and, along with tensions over the removal of land from communities by politicians without compensation, was the root cause of the fighting in 2008. The clashes began when backers of Odinga, a member of the Luo ethnic group, accused Kibaki, a Kikuyu, of stealing the December, 2007 presidential election.
"It's essential that the new constitution will end the longstanding ‘winner take all' approach in Kenyan politics, will help reassure all Kenyans that their interests will be protected, and will thus serve to de-emphasize the importance of ethnic electoral alliances," US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger said in a speech in Nairobi on Jan. 26.
Kenya's economic growth slowed to 1.7 percent in 2008 from 7.1 percent a year earlier as a result of the violence. Revenue from the tourism industry, Kenya's third-biggest source of foreign currency after horticulture and tea, and which accounts for about 13 percent of the economy, was slashed by over a third in the same year.
The next presidential election is due in December 2012. "The feeling is that if there aren't changes by 2012 it could result in violence again," Odindo Opiata, a lawyer and the executive director of Haki Jamii, a human rights lobby group, said in an interview.
Odinga suspended Agriculture Minister William Ruto and Education Minister Sam Ongeri until probes into corruption involving a corn re-export programme and alleged misappropriation of funds for primary schooling are completed. Kibaki overturned the decision hours later, triggering concern that the coalition government might collapse.
Odinga's suspension of the ministers may have been motivated by a desire to sideline Ruto, as he starts positioning himself for the next presidential election, Gus Selassie, a London-based analyst at IHS Global Insight, a research company, said in an interview
"He's positioning himself as the anti-corruption campaigner and he's trying to eliminate one of his potential challengers," Selassie said. Kibaki won't be eligible to run again because of term limits.
Odinga and Kibaki didn't meet as planned on Feb. 21 to discuss the dispute, Odinga told reporters in Nairobi. He didn't say why the meeting was called off or when it would take place.
The country has spent two decades trying to change a constitution it has had since independence from Britain in 1964. A 2005 attempt at a redraft was rejected by voters who thought it did too little to curb presidential powers.
Passage of the latest document is likely because of popular support for the process, Selassie said.
"That it's been written by an independent body and it has the backing of all the major parties, suggests that it will definitely be approved," Selassie said.