NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 3 (UPI) — If approved, Kenya’s new constitution will be a blueprint for social change, analysts and social commentators say.

Many of the new rules — especially freedom of media rules — are the most democratic of any ever considered in the country, Joe Kadhi, a veteran Kenyan journalist and journalism professor, said.

“The draft constitution is the closest Kenya has come to establishing a truly democratic society,” Kadhi says. “It obviously favors those who have been struggling to establish such a society where political leadership is transparent and accountable to the people.”

An independent committee of 10 legal experts is reviewing the document. Citizens could vote on it in March.

A free and independent media is guaranteed in the new constitution. In addition, all government files will be open to the public.

Media leaders have long complained about government officials intruding into editorial decision-making. And Kenya’s Official Secrets Act is still in place, a law set during the colonial era that prohibits Kenyans from looking at a wide variety of government files.

Constitutional analysts say that the new constitution will pave the way for a new Freedom of Information Act. Such a law would likely make it easier for reporters and citizens to formally request information.

In addition, new language protects academic and scientific freedom, artistic creativity, and the freedom to seek, receive and impart information or ideas.

But in a chilling nod to the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the new document says freedoms cannot be used for “propaganda for war; incitement to violence; hate speech; or advocacy of hatred."

Leading Kenyan radio stations like Kass, Lake Victoria, Kameme and Inooro were accused of encouraging "ethnic cleansing” among communities during the 2007 general election. Radio commentators urged hundreds of thousands of listeners to “take out the weeds in our midst,” a direct reference to the Rwandan government propaganda put out in 1994 that led to thousands being killed.

In Kenya, the Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review published the draft constitution on Nov. 17. Citizens can make comments through mid-January.

While the new constitution has garnered broad support, it is not without controversy

Kenya’s elected officials have managed to agree on how the president and the prime minister will share power under the proposed constitution, for example.

But plans to get rid of at least some current Kenyan judges once they go through a new vetting process are controversial, as is a plan to allow voters to hold recall elections if they feel their elected officials are not representing them.