This is it! Finally, after protracted struggles dating back at least two decades, if not more, Kenya has a new Constitution.

Kenyans voted in high numbers — with a turnout of just over 70 per cent of all registered voters — to say Yes.

The statutory requirement of 50 per cent plus one and 25 per cent in at least five provinces — was easily surpassed, with just under 70 per cent of Kenyans who voted endorsing and legitimising the new Constitution.

It is a new day for Kenya. A new day. A new day.

Polling, counting and tallying was, by and large, peaceful.

And, this being Kenya, they were not without their funny side as well.

The Interim Independent Electoral Commission signalled its determination to get polling materials out and results in by hook or by crook — or rather, by any and all means, including boats (one of which leaked and capsized and had to be followed by another) and too, Kenya’s long-suffering donkeys!

The Provincial Administration ensured that Kenyans exercised their patriotic duty to vote soberly — literally so in at least two areas by ordering the closure of all bars until well after the 5 pm voting deadline.

Which, however, did not stop one presiding officer from having to be replaced for being drunk.

But such little blips aside, Kenyans showed up early — with most polling station lines being long in the morning and fairly easy to manage by early afternoon.

The electronic transmission of results from individual polling stations went smoothly too.

And tallying went well, with the generally expectantly celebratory mood at the national tallying centre at the Bomas of Kenya being marred by only two things: An early accusation of rigging and a statement to the effect that the National Council of Churches of Kenya rejected the results — a statement quickly, however, refuted by the Archbishop of the Anglican Church.

And tension over the manner in which the polling station results were being released was eventually resolved in a mediation meeting between representatives of the Yes and No campaigns together with the IIEC.

All credit here goes to the IIEC — which handled both potential disruptions with calm and decorum, acutely aware of the possible effects of not doing so on the ground.

Particularly given reports coming in from Kericho of roadblocks being erected and, further north, threats against the Turkana from the Pokot for having voted “wrongly.”

And credit too goes to the massive and visible security presence in those areas (as well as, less visibly, in Nairobi), which enabled a quick response to both situations in a manner that did not escalate them.

Even rangers from the Kenyan Wildlife Service had been deployed in the security effort.

In short, the state took its obligations to assure Kenyans of their security seriously — and doing so paid off. Not that anything is being taken for granted following the referendum — the deployment will extend until at least August 9.

What this means is that Kenya has shown — through the IIEC, state security agencies as well as the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Peacenet’s national alert system and the mass of civil society organisations involved in monitoring the referendum process — that we can and will make sure that our electoral process is restored. Hongera to all.

But hongera too to the long legacy of struggle that has brought us to this place.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the academics and students associated with the left, the parliamentarians of that time who stood up to the then president, the lone voices among the Christian clergy like that of Reverend Timothy Njoya.

In the 1990s, the coalition of influences that enabled the formation of the original Forum for the Restoration of Democracy as well as the emerging human rights movement and the independent media.

Then there were all parties to the National Convention Executive Council and the National Constitutional Assembly.

All ordinary Kenyans citizens who joined the public demonstrations and protests — including those who lost their lives on the second Saba Saba.

The Ufungamano Initiative, which eventually merged under the Prof Yash Pal Ghai-led Constitution Review Commission of Kenya.

All those involved in the Bomas process. All those who ensured Kenya’s mediation agreements under the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation included a commitment to finalise the constitutional review process.

There was the Committee of Experts and the supporting Parliamentary Select Committee.

The number of ordinary Kenyans as well as more organised civil society who took it upon themselves to criss-cross the country with civic education on the Proposed Constitution of Kenya.

The Christian leadership and politicians who stood on the right side of history and campaigned for a Yes vote. Hongera. Hongera. Hongera.

It has been such a long time coming. It has been at such great cost to so many Kenyans. But we have crossed the Rubicon. We are standing on the other side.

And now the work really begins. In the short term, assuring post-referendum security is the priority — as is continuing with civic education in areas that still need to be reached.

In the short term, there is the immense amount of legislation that needs to be amended, repealed or brought into being to effect the new Constitution — as well as immediately being clear about the criteria for and the process of appointments to the overseeing implementation commission and its supporting parliamentary committee — as well as the public offices most immediately affected.

The state cannot be transformed without those capable of and willing to transform it—and identifying the hallmarks of such people and insisting on no less than the same is critical.

In the longer term, we ourselves all need to transform too—to internalise the fundamental changes in the nature of governance that the new Constitution has ushered in — and begin to seize the opportunities for participation and representation in governance that it provides.

It is a new day. And we have to renew ourselves, our conception of ourselves as Kenyans, to meet it.

The sun is shining (literally, after weeks of cold and gloom). It is a new day.

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