The case for a Yes vote
1. The Bill of rights is the best in Africa since it has covered all communities, ages, progressive provisions for the youth, children, the elderly, people with disability, etc. The inclusion of rights such the right to water, housing, and medicare is a major milestone.
2. The provision for religious courts makes all religions equal and none is elevated as a state or preferred religion for the country.
3. There is no provision for abortion or homosexuality since the constitution is very clear on this.
4. The provincial administration is not being disbanded. The officers involved will be redeployed by the government when the district governments have been established to take over the roles of the provincial administration.
5. Too much time, money and sacrifices have been made including loss of lives. It is better half a loaf than none.
6. Presidential powers have been reduced and disbursed to constitutional commissions. Appointments will now be by the president with the approval of parliament. Powers reduced including the doling out of land and other resources that made instant millions of party supporters.
7. The Wako draft is better than the current constitution as it is an improvement of the current constituition, Wanjiku's views and also the Bomas Draft
8. Saying No will return us to the current constitution and the dark days.
9. There is no perfect constitution: we can amend it later and we live under it and know the consequences.
10. Women have gained substantially in the draft constitution with the affirmative action provision and the 1/3 rule top all; elected and administrative public positions.
11. Money and resources will go the districts and if the CDF is anything to go by, then no region will be marginalised. The national cake will be distributed fairly.
12. Women now can inherit property both matrimonial as well as ancestral which is a major gain. It is a historical gain for the women of Kenya.
The case for a No vote
1. The Women have not gained substantially on issues of inheritance since customary law has the overriding place as basis for judicial determination. Traditional courts and customary law in the majority of Kenyan communities still hold women in contempt and disregard.
2. Dictatorship and the imperial presidency has been reinstated, revitalized and insulated under the Wako draft. The impeachment clauses demanding for a 75 per cent majority to impeach the president is practically impossible.
3. The president is not accountable to Parliament or to the people of Kenya whatsoever.
4. It is not the people's constitution. It is not Wanjiku's constitution: The views of the people have been pushed aside and the Bomas gains mutilated.
5. Gender and women empowerment has been rendered hollow since enforceability is tentative and severely deleted by the removal of the Senate and other levels of devolution.
6. There is no devolution under the Wako draft. There is only tentative decentralisation of government functions.
7. Affirmative action and the issue of addressing historical injustices have been neglected.
8. That the Prime Minister and cabinet can be composed of any Member of Parliament, including the Leader of Official Opposition, is a threat to multi-party democracy.
9. The requirement that one shall be disqualified from running in a presidential race if s/he is a candidate for a parliamentary seat portends grave danger for positive leadership development of democratic practice.
10. The requirement that the president shall be elected on obtaining 25 per cent of the vote in half of the districts is a recipe of the spiralling ethnicity and balkanisation.
11. The Amendment clauses are draconian and massively impeding on the right of the people to change the constitution, given that this is a contested constitution that has not been reproduced by way of consensus.