Kenya Adopted New Constitution

Kenya on 27 August 2010 adopted a new constitution when its President Mwai Kibaki signed the new constitution of Kenya in Nairobi, Kenya.
The main features of the new constitution of Kenya are as following:
•    The powers of the President are reduced
•    Senate is created as a second chamber of the Parliament
•    transferring power to regions
•    Including citizens’ bill of rights
•    Judicial service commission is created
•    Land commission is created to settle ownership disputes
•    Muslim courts got recognition

Under the new constitution of Kenya there will be a decentralised political system which would limit the powers of the President and there will be local counties in place of corrupt provincial governments.The constitution of Kenya changed the structure of the government by creating 47 counties. The senate will have 47 members, each member elected from the counties. The President is to continue his rule over the nation, but he will be restricted by checks and balances and the Senate will examine key appointments made by him. The Presidents and Senate will have fixed term with elections taking place after every five years.

Kenyan voters adopted the new constitution in a national referendum on 4 August 2010. President Mwai Kibaki’s signature formally ended a long struggle to reduce the power of the President.
Kenya’s new Constitution is part of a reform package, which took place after a power-sharing deal was signed in February 2008. The deal put an end to the violence which took place after Kenya’s controversial December 2007 Presidential elections.

Why the New Constitution Was Needed
Previous constitution allowed the concentration of powers in the hands of the President, left courts with little control over the executive, and allowed politicians to exploit the tribal differences. The demand for new constitution in Kenya was for a long time and every new political crisis in the nation only bolstered the demand. The ethnic violence in Kenya following the disputed Presidential elections of 2007 saw the killing of more than 1000 persons. In the wake of the violence it was agreed that there is a need for a new constitution to avoid any more trouble in future.