Reuters

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki arrives at the parliament building in the capital Nairobi.

Nairobi - Kenya will fast-track laws to implement its new constitution, set up a supreme court and reform its judiciary, President Mwai Kibaki said on Tuesday.

The East African country has missed deadlines in implementing reforms, including the appointment of a new chief justice after the previous one left office in February, mostly due to political wrangling.

The new constitution, which Kenyans have sought for more than 20 years, aims to check presidential powers and curb the corruption, political patronage, land-grabbing and tribalism which have plagued Kenya since independence from Britain in 1963.

“The grand coalition government is determined to systematically implement the new constitution. We will give bills relating to judicial reforms high priority,” Kibaki told parliament which reconvened after a three-week break.

Analysts say applying the constitution has been slowed by those who opposed it during a referendum held last August.

Kibaki said crucial among these were new laws to govern the next general election due next year, as well as reforms to police, civil service and land ownership.

East Africa's biggest economy risks losing international goodwill and funding if it fails to implement the constitution fully and in a transparent manner, and make a clean break with the past marred by violence following the 2007 polls.

“There are competing interests at play and some will try to clog the implementation process for their own individual or party interests,” said political commentator Kwamchetsi Makokha.

Kibaki said the reforms would strengthen accountability of the courts to handle the trials of suspects, who include cabinet officials, named as sponsors of the fighting.

“I am fully aware of the challenges ... we face in decisively dealing with the post election crisis (of) 2008.”

Kibaki has asked the UN Security Council to defer the trials for a year and have them held in Nairobi by a local tribunal, and wants to revamp the courts and the police in a bid to convince the ICC that the country can handle the cases.

Kenya is polarised over whether to have the suspects tried locally or at The Hague.

The European Union has said it would back hearing the cases locally if Kenya revamped its courts.

Kibaki said land reform laws would also be passed to redress a historically thorny issue that some say also fuelled the election violence.

Lawmakers said they would aim to pass the reforms in time.

“If parliament fails in its task, then the members of the public can punish parliament. They can seek the early dissolution of this house, I don't think any member wants that,” said Ababu Namwamba, a lawmaker who is also chairman of the parliament's justice and legal affairs committee. - Reuters