It is fantastic that the Kenya draft constitution is now available online at katiba.mobi, and even better specifically for browisng on a mobile phone.
The layout is great, the home page offers the English version and a Kiswahili version of the draft constitution which uses google translate. There is a search feature on the homepage. The first page of the English language offers a table of contents with the preamble, 18 chapters and the schedules. The chapters are then sub-divided into the 264 articles.
This is great innovation. It demonstrates the great talent available in Kenya. I would be suprised if any other country has their constitution (or draft) available online for mobile phones. With an estimated 19 million people using cell phones in Kenya, I would estimate that there are at least 5 million with phones that can access the Internet. This is a huge influential audience and giving them easy access to the draft is great. I can see many people refering to the draft through their cell phones in the midst of arguments in churches, bars, work places etc.
Interestingly early reaction has been muted or extremely cautious. This tweet from an active Kenya twitter user, 2 days ago captures the discomfort with the new website;
"This www.katiba.mobi is just fake. Doesn't make sense. Seriously something is a miss with all this referendum business. I need to pray."
The folks behind katiba.mobi have a twitter account @katibamobi . It has 11 followers which is very low, even though it was only set up up 5 days ago. The constitution review is currently the most prominent issue in Kenya. It is also suprising the the vibrant Kenya twitter users (aka .ke tweeps) have been so cautious to follow the twitter account @katibamobi.
Perhaps the polarized debate and the ongoing fiasco of the printing of 20,000 copies of the draft consitution with an illegal amendment have made people very cautious and suspicious.
I have gone through the English draft version available at katibi.mobi and compared it to the draft version published by the Attorney General and available at the CoE website. To the best of my ability I find it consistent and accurate. There was one article that had the wrong number and two that were in the wrong order but when I pointed this out to the folks behind katiba.mobi they promptly corrected these clerical errors. The only other thing I can find wrong is that the use -- instead of a long dash.
So what is the agenda or goal of katiba.mobi? They say "Read the Proposed Constitution of Kenya on your mobile phone". I do not know the folks behind this initiative so I cannot claim to know their intention. I do celebrate their idea and implementation and I am thrilled that the draft constitution is available online and especially on a phone. I chose to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope other Kenyans will too.
That said to ease people's fears the team that has developed katiba.mobi should seriously consider revealing their identity. It will make a very big difference if there is a face, or faces, to connect to the iniitiative. Right now you have no idea who is behind it and even a whois for the domain name does not yield a name of the owner of the domain. They could go a step further and seek the endorsement of the CoE which will assure people of the integrity of the draft.
In the interim well done katiba.mobi!
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