Fear and loathing lurk below the rationality

And recently too, another Muslim leader (in happy concert with a Christian leader I might add) has clearly been behind the incitement to violence not just against those believed to be gay but also against a HIV/Aids service provider offering healthcare to men who have sex with men in Mtwapa.

Both of these situations are clearly anti-Constitutional values, anti-human rights and anti-rule of law.

But these two situations cannot be taken as representative of the full spectrum of Muslim (or Christian) belief and behaviour. They are not.

Debate on the fundamentals of religious belief is as old as time and as widespread as human being who hold to a given faith are.

Debate on the relationship of the same to the state is equally so.

Struggles that swing the debate one way or another are inevitable — informed often by experiences of exclusion and how that exclusion seeks to be addressed.

The final point being that we will not get anywhere if we do not have the discussion on the Constitution in an honest way — that fully unveils all the fears that underlie stated rational positions. It is incumbent on all of us to try to be completely honest as we proceed.

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission