The Context of Transformative Constitutionalism in Kenya

Abstract

On 27 August 2010 Kenya adopted a new Constitution to repeal the old Constitution, this heralded a new era of constitutional change. This was the date of the promulgation of the Kenyan Constitution 2010. It ushered in a new dispensation in Kenya’s constitutional, social, political and economic order. Many have argued that it ushered in the Second Republic, the first having been launched at independence in 1963. Many Constitutional law enthusiasts view it as a post-liberal Constitution just like the South African one that does more than just assigning and checking state power but also an instrument of transformation and reconstruction. It mandates key state actors on how to effect the transformative project and introduces fundamental changes in socio-economic and political spheres.