Synopses & Reviews
The aftermath of recent Kenyan elections has been marred by violence and an apparent crisis in democratic governance, with the negotiated settlement resulting from the 2007 election bringing into sharp focus longstanding problems of state and society. The broader reform process has involved electoral, judicial and security-sector reforms, among others, which in turn revolve around constitutional reforms.
Written by a gathering of eminent specialists, this highly original volume interrogates the roots and impact of the 2010 constitution. It explains why reforms were blocked in the past but were successful this time around, and explores the scope for their implementation in the face of continued resistance by powerful groups. In doing so, the book demonstrates that the Kenyan experience carries significance well past its borders, speaking to debates surrounding social justice and national cohesion across the African continent and beyond.
About the Author
Godwin R. Murunga is a senior research fellow in the Institute of Development Studies, University of Nairobi, and director of the African Leadership Centre. He is also a visiting professor in the Global Institutes at Kings College London. He is a trained historian with a PhD from Northwestern University in Illinois, specialising in urban history but with research interests in democratisation processes in Africa, politics of knowledge production and masculinities in Africa. His current research project focuses on the role of settlements in peace-building and state-building in Kenya.
Duncan Okello is currently the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chief Justice, Republic of Kenya. He holds a BA degree in political science and history as well as a law degree, both from the University of Nairobi. He also holds an MA in international relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. His policy and research interests revolve around questions of democratisation and institution-building for societies in transition, constitutionalism and the rule of law, and how development outcomes mediate and influence state and citizen relations in Africa. He previously worked as director of programmes at the Institute of Economic Affairs in Kenya, and as the Regional Director for Eastern Africa for the Society for International Development.
Anders Sjögren is a senior researcher with the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala. He holds a PhD in political science from Stockholm University. Working in the field of the comparative political economy of development and state-society relations in Africa, his current research is on land conflicts, state formation and citizenship in Kenya and Uganda.
Table of Contents
Towards a new constitutional order in Kenya: an introduction
- Godwin R. Murunga, Duncan Okello and Anders Sjögren
Part One: Contexts and actors in the making of a new constitution
1 The protracted transitions to the Second Republic in Kenya
- Paul Tiyambe Zeleza
2 Fuelling the violence: the print media in Kenya's volatile 2007 post-election violence
- Sammy Gakero Gachigua
3 Mediating Kenya's post-election violence: from a peace-making to a constitutional moment
- E. Njoki Wamai
4 Instrumentalism and constitution-making in Kenya: triumphs, challenges and opportunities beyond the 2013 elections
- Raymond Muhula and Stephen Ndegwa
5 Revisiting 'the two faces of civil society' in constitutional reform in Kenya
- Wanjala S. Nasong'o
Part Two: The content, challenges and opportunities of a new constitutional order
6 Constitutions and constitutionalism: the fate of the 2010 Constitution
- Yash Pal Ghai
7 Elite compromises and the content of the 2010 constitution
- Godwin R. Murunga
8 Security and human rights in the new constitutional order in Kenya
- Mutuma Ruteere