The terrain of constitution making is the most contested in the history of the state and politics. This is mainly because constitutions generally reflect a political settlement that endangers the interests of the dominant classes of any political community and therefore a continuous struggle goes on until the constitutional frameworks reflects the values of the majority of the citizens.
The youth of Kenya, if organized can form the new social base and engine for the transformation of societies especially with the diminishing role of ideological contestations in the post-cold war and highly globalised world. Unfortunately, Kenyan youth who form the social majority do not see this as a political process but more like a touch and go affair with the politicians and dominant ruling class.
The youth then need to consolidate their constituency into the most critical social base "a political constituency" and offer leadership to the emergence of modern and democratic societies of the world. Kenya is particularly in need of this leadership for transformation but has failed to be blessed with this leadership since the youth of Kenya remain distracted by the shiny but not important affairs of the society.
Since the youth have never been organized as a political constituency, they have remained irrelevant in the political terrain more so the arena of negotiating the future of Kenya. This is tragic knowing as we do that the Kibaki generation has already negotiated about five constitutional settlements and they are keen to give the nation a sixth constitutional settlement, yet it is the youth of Kenya, that constitutional settlement seeks to shape and govern. There are elements of political and intergeneration inequity in this current push and shove around constitutional renewal in Kenya.
Constitutional reform is the most important affair for the nation today. This is particularly important in the wake of the unprecedented political and constitutional crisis that hit Kenya after the contested presidential fertilized eruption of violence leading to deaths and wanton distraction of lives and property. The constitution failed the people of Kenya. Kenya's constitution has always failed to cover the nakedness of all the citizens and only padded and secured the comfort and security of a few privileged citizens who constitute the ruling class in Kenya.
The constitution has established a government that is unresponsive to the rights of the poor and the majority of the weak citizens who are mainly women, the youth and the children. It is therefore an undemocratic constitution. This enduring legacy has created and fertilized a culture of impunity, the abuse and disregard of the institutions of the state, lack of accountability and a culture that disregards international norms and standards of human rights protection and promotion. That is why there is untamed poverty and inequality in Kenya and the youths suffer the pangs of hunger, poverty and unemployment due to the constitutional framework and the culture it has reproduced for over four decades. From this cultural context, the politics of exclusion has taken route. Kenya's politics are powered by winner-takes-it-all-first-past-the-post electoral system that makes the elections a life and death affair where the losers also lose all the political space. This paradigm has been legitimized by Kenya's expired one-party-state constitution that has failed the interests of Kenyans but to promote the interests of the ruling class, particularly those in the ruling party and in public offices.
The young people of Kenya therefore have a historical mission which is unique today, 45 years after independence. This generation -the post independence generation- in order to honor those who fought for freedom and justice under the law of colonial tyranny. The principal reason why the post independence generation must be the generation to re-enact the vision of freedom and justice through a new constitution is fundamental and it is because pre-independence generation have systematically betrayed the vision of independence and freedom and therefore brought the nation to its knees. The ruling class predominated by the pre-independence generation is pre- occupied with self--preservation and protection of wealth and legacies. Amongst that pre-independence are the other actors who are whetting their appetites for power under the same broken and tyrannical constitutional frameworks they have since accepted to be in their advantage. The post independence generation is agreed that the status quo in Kenya is unjust and must therefore be done away with. This is what must power the post independence generation to rewrite the vision for an independent, democratic and prosperous nation that upholds the dignity of all Kenyans equally.
The historical mission for young people therefore is to outline the principles that the new constitution must provide for so that it is clear the agenda young people want to achieve. This is the vision that is currently bleak and therefore the rest of Kenyans do not know what the youth are haranguing about. Secondly the youth must outline the kind of process they require to process the constitutional agreement at the end. This is because the conservative forces dominate parliament and other policy organs in Kenya that the laws that policies that are made in Kenya favor a minority and not the majority.
Similarly the youth must outline the good will benchmarks that must be followed in order to have a sustainable process of negotiating a new constitution. Learning from the 20 years that Kenya has been on the systematic search for a new constitution, it is clear that without the requisite good will, a new constitution must remain a mirage. The presence of the current political arrangement is nothing to enamor the youth and Kenya generally to believe that the ruling class in Kenya has now faced Damascus and changed its will. President Kibaki and Raila Odinga actually believe Kenyans are their prisoners and that is why they view themselves as the jailors of the people. That mindset motivates the political leaders to claim that they shall give Kenyans a constitution as a gift.
Fourthly, the youth of Kenya must mobilize and organize their constituency across the country in order to break the spell of ethnic jingoism and the supremacy of tribalism if the historic mission of giving Kenya a democratic constitution is to be realized. All the undemocratic forces must be fought openly and strategically by the Movement of young democrats regardless of the risks involved. Like Dedan Kimathi of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, the post independence generation must declare that it is better to die on our feet than to live on our knees. Currently Kenyans are living on their knees since internal colonialism, subjugation, dominance of foreign capital and powers, discrimination and marginalization now is the norm of life. This fourth point is critical because without political clout, transformation cannot be realized.
The young people of Kenya must free themselves from the dictates and baggage of the ruling classes. The significance now should not be the limits but the vision, principles and agenda of that we are fighting to bring forth through a democratic constitutional order. The argument should never be about the money involved because the missed opportunities under the current defective and illegitimate constitutional arrangement constitutional arrangement are the real cancer and hemorrhage that we must act as a nation and stop. The post independence generation must think and act with fresh ideas and a more inspiring vision.
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Humbly, this is nonsense. We have a Lands Minister who is questioning the Bill of Rights' guarantee to freedom of movement and settlement. What do we need new laws for? Note that civil society (the usual suspects) did not even call out Orengo on his remarks.