President Moi has signed the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (Amendment) Act making it law.

A Thursday statement by Attorney-General Amos Wako said the Act is to be published in the Gazette immediately after the Christmas holiday and before the new year.

The President will then announce when the Act becomes operational. The Act was passed by Parliament on December 8.

If it is published before January 1, the Act may become operational before January 30 as it must become operational not later than 30 days after its publication.

The assent sets the stage for the establishment of a commission of 25 people.

The nomination of commissioners by political parties, civil society and special interest groups must be done within 15 days from the date of the Act's commencement.

The names must be submitted to the AG by the 15th day for verification and request for proper compliance with the Act in regard to the nominations. This task takes the AG 10 days after which he compiles and submits the list to the President, within 15 days.

The President is supposed to gazette the commissioners within 15 days upon receiving the list from the AG.

The first meeting of commissioners should be held within 15 days of their gazettment, during which they should elect their chair and the vice-chair who must be gazetted within 14 days.

In his statement, Mr Wako asked groups supposed to nominate commissioners to pick persons of integrity, impeccable character and with learning and experience in public affairs

"The commission must not only collate and collect the views . . . but must also accurately reflect those views in their recommendations and draft Bill," said Mr Wako.

"The calibre of persons nominated and appointed as commissioners must be crucial to the success of the process of constitutional review."

If everything works to schedule, a new Constitution should be in place by mid-2001, one year to the next General Election.

Political parties have 13 seats on the commission while the Women's Political Caucus - a grouping of about 43 women's organisations - have five.

The civil society, which has four seats, and the women's political caucus, have started processes which will culminate in the nominations.

The Muslims, the Protestants and the Catholics have a seat each.

At least eight seats must be preserved for women and at least two commissioners must come from each of the eight provinces.

The review will be conducted through a three-tier system - the Commission, the National Consultative Forum and the District Consultative Forum.

The chairman of the commission must be a former or serving judge, an advocate or one who has taught law in a recognised university for at least 15 years.

Collecting and collating citizens' views will take 13 months; preparing a report, summary of the report and a draft Constitution will take another six months wile dissemination and debate of reports and draft Bill will take three months

The establishment and convening of a national consultative forum will take 30 days while studying the reports, debating, amending and adopting constitutional proposals - including reference of any issue to the commission - will take three months.

Once it is handed over the AG, he must pass it on to Parliament within 30 days

It has been a bumpy road to getting the Act become law as accusations and counter-accusations were traded between Kanu and the Opposition with each planning to control the review process.

The last of a series of meetings by stakeholders' representatives at what came to be known as the Safari Park talks were held amidst claims that the Attorney-General had sneaked in some amendments favourable to Kanu.

The talks almost collapsed in early October as the drafting committee of 12 headed by Catholic Bishop Philip Sulumeti disowned the five "or" clauses.

The amendment had become necessary after the Opposition and the civil society opposed an earlier Act published by Mr Wako without consulting them.

The Sulumeti committee was also charged with finding ways of distributing the 25 seats.

Meanwhile, the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop David Gitari said yesterday that Protestant churches and the National Council of Churches of Kenya, who are supposed to nominate one commissioner are yet to do so.

He prelate said he did not know whether a meeting had been arranged for the various protestant churches to make their choice.

Speaking to journalists soon after delivering a Christmas Day sermon at the All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi, the cleric said the NCCK secretariat was the one coordinating the issue.

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