UHURU ON DRAFT

The grand coalition committee on consensus building on constitution reforms Tuesday held its third meeting with little progress to note.

Deputy premier Uhuru Kenyatta who was chairing the meeting said they had agreed on a hybrid government combining both presidential and parliamentary system, prime minister to be the leader of party with the highest representation in parliament, and the establishment of council state which shall resolve disputes between the president and the premier in the case that they are from different political parties.

However the committee remains deadlocked on the roles of the president and the premier under the proposed constitution, the executive functions, and the composition of the cabinet and the harmonization of policies in circumstances where the president and the prime minister are from different parties.

Transitional provisions and representation of people in parliament including whether there should be a senate, its composition and size continue to dog efforts by the coalition parties to present a single document on proposals on the Harmonized Draft Constitution before it goes to Parliament.

On Monday Miguna Miguna, the coalition adviser to Prime Minister Raila Odinga, walked out of the meeting saying his PNU colleagues had failed to work within guidelines agreed on the week before.

The six-member technical team, is expected to agree on a common Grand Coalition position on some of the thorny issues in the draft constitution ahead of the Thursday deadline for the public and political parties to present their views to the Committee of Experts.