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1 Ind. J. Const. Design 1 (2016)

handle is hein.journals/indjcstd1 and id is 1 raw text is: Page 1 of 28 The Voice of the People: Public Participation in the African Continent by Rafael Macia Briedis* ABSTRACT Public participation is becoming a more common characteristic of constitutional drafting processes around the world, and Africa has not been an exception in this regard. This paper seeks to survey several of the public participation processes undertaken in a number of African nations, in order to examine the methods followed and the effects produced by such processes. For that purpose, I have analyzed the constitutional drafting efforts in South Africa, Uganda, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Kenya, and Egypt. These processes all show different circumstances and approaches, with variations in terms of their top-down or bottom-up nature, and, more importantly, in terms of the genuineness behind the attempt to educate and consult the public. Introduction There has been a growing trend, especially in recent years, to consider public participation an essential aspect of constitutional enactment. Indeed, involvement of the citizenry in the creation of a constitution is often seen as a legitimizing component of the drafting process, and as fostering public understanding of and support for the process itself. This understanding and support is in turn thought to be transmitted to the ensuing product (the constitution).' Not everyone agrees with this assessment, though. Some scholars argue that public participation in the design of a constitution may lead to social instability by generating a fight over resources and by bringing forth latent conflictive ethnic identities. Additionally, they contend that public participation will lead to constitutions based on personal, rather than communal, interests, and that it will generate incoherent documents due to lack of agreement. Finally, they argue that public participation does not guarantee that citizens will feel sufficiently incentivized to meaningfully participate.2 The purpose of the present paper is not to resolve the dispute between supporters and detractors of public participation, but rather to provide a comparative review of public participation in different constitutional drafting processes undertaken in the African continent, so that readers may reach their own conclusions. This work was originally intended as a background research * JD/PhD Candidate at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, and Managing Affiliate at the Center for Constitutional Democracy. 1 See Zachary Elkins et al., The Citizen as Founder: Public Participation in Constitutional Approval, 81 TEMP. L. REV. 361, 362-63, 370 (2008). 2 See, e.g., id. at 374 (summarizing some of the skeptical views regarding public participation).

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