Expectations and backlash: before and after political change

Publication date: Wednesday 28 September 2005

Mary N. Wanjiru: Citizen’s Coalition for Constitutional Change (CCCC), Kenya
Kepta Ombati: National Convention Executive Council (NCEC), Kenya

In 2002, Kenya gained its first experience of a coalition government after 24 years of authoritarian rule by President Daniel Arap Moi. The prospect of open democratic governance and participation by citizens was thought to be possible for the first time. A national commission for human rights was established and a sense of hope prevailed regarding the writing of a new Constitution to ensure rights – in earnest consultation with Kenya’s people.

Leaders of energetic and innovative civil society groups flooded government posts. NCEC, a Kenyan movement established during the Moi era by civil society and opposition parties, is one such organisation which saw its founding members taking on leading government positions. Taking advantage of this situation, NCEC’s strategy was to support the new government and advocate for change from within. However, rather than pursuing the priorities of these government leaders, they started to ‘divide and rule’, leaving a void where state and NGOs previously engaged. Now NCEC is seen as part and parcel of the state, whilst the state has lost its credibility, contracting civil society organisations for its services and co-opting its agenda. This rather disillusioning experience leaves NCEC with the question: can reformers evolve to be in political power or should they stay in civil society?

Concurrently, the Constitutional reform has been a process of rebirth. Civil society in Kenya has moved on, advocating issues of human rights, HIV/AIDS and good governance. However, the government is not delivering on the Constitution: structural flaws are ignored, with little regard for the rule of law, corruption and high unemployment. In response, coalition member organisation CCCC has become a driving force behind the Constitutional reform process, attempting to pressure the government to follow through on its promises.

All in all, civil society did not move from confrontation to collaboration in Kenya in quite the harmonious way that was anticipated. Moreover, overt repression during the Moi era has become subtle repression today. Confronting or engaging the state is now a cursory interest with neither strategy having been effective so far. Civil society actors are unsure whether they should go back to the streets or engage with government through the halls of power. Either way it seems that the concentration of executive power in Kenya today can be devolved only through a new Constitution whose realisation and implementation should be monitored closely by civil society.

CSB in Kenya:
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