The National Constitutional Amendment Committee is expected to present its proposed constitutional amendments to the Ministry of Justice next week.

This follows a meeting between the Committee chaired by constitutional lawyer Gichira Kibara and the ministry this week.

In a statement issued this morning, Mr. Kibara said that some of the contentious issues, which led to the stalemate in February 2016 “have since been overcome or overtaken by events”.

These included the fate of more States, vacancies of Members of Parliament, chairing of the first session of the expanded Transitional National Legislative Assembly and appointment of presidential advisers.

“We have been looking at the Constitutional Amendment proposals and for the last two days, we have gone through the entire Constitution and the Agreement afresh. We have made great strides,” Kibara said on Wednesday.

For his part Justice Minister Paulino Wanawila welcomed the progress so far made by the committee.

He said: “I’m delighted to hear the latest progress. We are all ready to work harmoniously to ensure the Peace Agreement is implemented. There is no other way about it.”

After receiving the proposed constitutional amendments, the Minister is expected to forward it to the Council of Ministers. After approval, it would then be tabled before the TNLA.

According to the Peace Agreement, the constitutional amendments, if passed by parliament, will incorporate the peace deal into the national constitution.

The National Constitutional Amendment Committee was established in line with the 2015 peace deal to spearhead constitutional amendments in the country.

The committee comprises eight members. They represent the government, SPLM-IO, Former Detainees and IGAD.