ose Angiro has a favorite proverb: when two bulls fight, it is only the grass that suffers. Angiro, a maize farmer in western Kenya, is talking about Kenya's politicians and church leaders, who are locked in battle over a draft constitution that Kenya's 44 million people will vote on in August. The debate over the constitution suddenly became much more than an exercise in civics in mid-June, when grenades exploded at a rally organized by churches against the new constitution. Six people were killed in the blasts and the stampede that followed.

Early last week, police arrested three Members of Parliament who oppose the new constitution on accusations of hate speech. One of them, an assistant minister of roads, allegedly told a rally that members of the Kikuyu ethnic group "should prepare to leave Rift Valley en masse" if the constitution passes. President Mwai Kibaki last week suspended the assistant minister, who denies the charges. The Kikuyus are the largest of Kenya's 42 ethnic groups, and the Rift Valley is the part of western Kenya dominated by smaller groups. It was exactly that sort of language that led to the 2008 violence, which saw 1,300 people killed and tens of thousands of Kikuyus driven out of the Rift Valley.

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