The East Africa Community will soon get a political confederation Constitution that will guide its governance.
A consultative forum for the drafting of the document was launched on Monday in Mombasa and will run until May 27.
East African Community, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano presided over the launch.
She noted that EAC's founding fathers envisioned the region's citizens as ‘one people with one destiny.'
"The consultation forum on the EAC Political Confederation is a crucial engagement in the context of the community’s efforts towards promoting popular participation," the CS said.
Miano said the popular participation will inform the policy decision to be made.
She said majority of citizens are yet to acknowledge the status of the EAC integration, let alone the potential opportunities available for them in the region.
"Moreover, awareness of the journey taken so far towards making the EAC Political Federation a reality is still remote to many a mind across the region," Miano said.
The CS said each gain made in configuring the Confederation is a further step towards the realisation of the EAC Political Federation.
The EAC selected a team of regional constitutional experts under the leadership of former Chief Justice of Uganda, Benjamin Odoki, and Kenya’s former Attorney General, Amos Wako, as vice chair to lead the consultations.
"The process we are launching in Kenya today has already taken place in Burundi and Uganda. Kenya is third in line," Miano said.
The experts will listen and engage Kenyans on the type of Confederation Constitution EAC should have.
"The team will hold meetings in our former provincial headquarters and listen to respondents from all the 47 counties," the CS said.
Among the key areas of interest for the consultations will be the governing structure of the political confederation, modes of decision-making, governance principles of the confederation and funding of the operations of the confederal authority.
Miano encouraged all Kenyans to engage in the consultations.
