Politics In Kenya Research Articles

Has Kenya democratized? Institutional strengthening and contingency in the 2022 general elections

ABSTRACT Kenya’s 2022 general elections saw – for only the second time in the country’s history – a transfer of power from a retiring president to a candidate that they had not backed. Moreover, despite accusations of electoral malpractice, the Supreme Court upheld the results, fewer petitions were submitted for lower-level races, and political unrest around the election itself was relatively minor. This has led some commentators to speculate that Kenya’s political institutions are becoming robust and that the power of ethnicity is waning – and hence that the country is on a steady path towards democratic consolidation. We counsel against this interpretation, arguing that the 2022 polls were anything but a formality, and rested, at least in part, on a set of contingent factors that may not be reproduced. It is thus important to understand both the structural changes that have transformed Kenyan politics and the challenges that remain. We undertake such an appraisal by considering three areas often seen to be the building blocks of a high-quality democracy: the strength of democratic institutions, how politicians seek to mobilise support, and the independence and vibrancy of civil society and the media.

Ethnic politics and party realignment in African constitutional referendums: Understanding Kenya’s ‘industry of insults’

Abstract Kenya’s constitutional referendums in 2005 and 2010 stand out for their continuity with the national elections that followed both polls. During campaigns for and against the draft constitutions, politicians attempted to leverage their popularity amongst co-ethnics to signal their viability as coalition partners or ‘formateurs’ in subsequent general elections: rather than nuanced debates on constitutional issues, the campaigns became personal contests that one observer dubbed an ‘industry of insults’. A decade later, this process was repeated as the country’s political class considered further revisions to the constitution. Kenya’s referendum campaigns thus reflect a layer of strategic behaviour that has not been recognized in much of the contemporary literature on democratization and constitutional change in Africa. While the substance of the country’s constitution matters to Kenyan elites, referendum campaigns have added value to leaders independently of the outcomes of the polls themselves. The prominence of ethnicity as an organizing feature in Kenyan politics combined with high levels of party volatility produces an environment in which referendum campaigns serve as opportunities for Kenyan politicians to renegotiate political coalitions and realign party politics in between election cycles. In this way, the country’s referendum politics are a distinct byproduct of its historical and political circumstances.

Coalition Formation and the Role of Ethnicity in Kenyan General Election, 2022

The political sector of Kenya provides an interesting perspective into the importance of lineage and ethnicity in Kenyan politics. Kenyan politicians are prone to switching alliances and forming coalitions to fit within their rapidly changing party dynamics and structure which are heavily influenced by ethnic factors. The leaders of these ethnic groups too are more likely to provide support depending on future favorability during the distribution of resources or positions within the new government. This paper reviews relevant literature and uses the social cleavage theory to discuss the importance of ethnicity in the formation of coalitions in Kenyan election of 2022. Through the discussions, the paper points out the instability of coalitions mostly based on ethnicity in Kenya and recommends the pursuit of a national identity instead of an ethnic identity.

The State of Political Ethnic Mobilisation among Kenyan Communities in Postcolonial Era, 1963 to 2007 A Case Study of Bukusu People

There is a growing body of scholarly work on political behaviour in Africa that accords much credence to the salience of ethnicity as a rallying point during electoral processes. Yet at the country level, we still understand very little about the interactions between ethnicity and voting behaviour and what demographic groups are more likely or less likely to be susceptible to the effects of ethnic cues, if at all, when voting or expressing support in other ways for political parties. Such features are dominant in Kenyan politics and are characterized majorly through ethnic-based politics where the formation of political parties and coalitions are motivated ethnically. Taking Bukusu as a case example, it is clearly seen how political game and electoral mobilisation is largely contested ethnic terrain. This explains why the majority of the leaders in Bungoma are Bukusu who have had a defining moment and significant effect on political leadership and electoral politics since independence. This paper focused on the state of political ethnic mobilisation among Kenyan communities in postcolonial era, 1963 to 2007with reference to Bukusu people of Bungoma District. The study examines ethnic politics as an instrument for political mileage among the Bukusu people. It is noted herein that since the migration and eventual inception of imperialism, the Bukusu people just like other communities in the country resisted colonisation which eventually cemented them together up to date. Karly Popper’s instrumentalism theory and AchilleMbembe’s postcolonial theory were the two theories used in the study. This study relied heavily on archival materials, oral interviews, and a review of linked secondary literature. Convergence and divergence were produced after thoroughly reviewing, analysing, and compiling all the data. Ex-post facto as a research design was used with purposive and snowball as sampling techniques. Elderly men and women were target population and the sampling size was guided by historical principle of not less than twenty eight participants. It is argued that this data will be useful to policymakers in formulating and comprehending the factors that affect political patterns and behaviour both at the national and local levels. The study should be of importance to historian scholars and more specifically on those who have an interest in state of political ethnic mobilisation among Kenyan Communities.

(Un)even Cultural Productions: (Re)theorising Silences in the Kenyan Political Life writing

(Un)even Cultural Productions: (Re)theorising Silences in the Kenyan Political Life writing

‘I have opened the land for you’: pastoralist politics and election-related violence in Kenya’s arid north

ABSTRACT The shadow of election violence has hung over Kenyan politics since 2008, when post-election violence erupted across the country. These events paved the way for major national reforms, including the devolution of central government, designed to counteract tendencies of ethnic patronage and violence. Kenya’s subsequent election cycles have not seen the same explosion of nationwide violence, and therefore little has been written about election violence in Kenya in the post-devolution years. However, this article draws attention to the arid, pastoralist-dominated north, where there have in fact been significant episodes of violence that are election-related. Drawing on ethnographic research, it explores the case of Samburu, Isiolo and Laikipia counties during the 2017 and 2022 election cycles, when mass movements of armed pastoralists and herds forced their way, often violently, into targeted areas of land, resulting in widespread clashes, killings and displacement. The article investigates the endogenous elites and machinations within nomadic Samburu communities involved in and affected by this violence, using a ‘public authority lens’. It argues that ongoing governance changes in this region have created opportunities for political elites to mobilise territorial violence for strategic, political ends in advance of elections, including through a previously undocumented practice of “vote shipping”.

Influence of Machiavellian Principles of Political Power, Religion and Development on Successive Regimes in Kenya, 1963-2007

This paper interrogates Kenyan politics through the lenses of Niccolo Machiavelli’s ideas on political power. It analyses the relevance of Machiavelli’s political ideas, as they have applied by different political leaders in Kenya. It pays special attention at how over the years Kenyan politicians at the helm of Kenyan political stage, the state house, have shrewdly mastered and used religion channelise politics of their times. Colonial rule in Kenya witnessed the emergence of a profoundly unbalanced institutional landscape and underdevelopment. With all capacity resided in a strong prefectural provincial administration, political parties remained underdeveloped making Kenyan politics to be leader centred. Politics is perceived as a game in which interests clash and political leaders attempt to establish stability amid conflicting interests. This reality is captured in the ideas of Machiavelli, whose works in political philosophy created the ideological ground for the emergence of Machiavellianism. The most significant aspect of colonialism in Kenya was political domination control, underdevelopment and authoritarianism. Colonialism in Kenya between 1895-1963 was characterized by economic exploitation and colonial expression. Sadly, the spectre of repression, exploitation and underdevelopment persisted in independent Kenya all against the hopes Kenyans had at independence. In this work, we argue that the post independence history of Kenya is replete with key aspects of Machiavelli’s conception of political power, ‘ misuse’ of religion by leaders and glaring underdevelopment all in the name of managing politics. Therefore, this paper examines the application of Machiavellian principles in the independent Kenya between 1963 and 2007.

Understanding Kenyan Politics: The Case of Deputy Presidency from 1963 to 2022

According to Kenyan Constitution (2010, Section 147), the duties of the Deputy President (previously Vice President) include assisting the President with administrative tasks, representing the President in international forums, and filling any vacancies that may occur in the event that the current President passes away, is impeached, or is found guilty. The Deputy President is thus the second-highest political official in Kenya. Hence, the Vice President is Kenya’s second-highest elected office. He or she is the President’s assistant. Yet, since independence, there have consistently been disputes in Kenya between the State Presidents who have led the country successively and their deputies. This article attempts at finding the root that defines the disputes. The article also argues that while the Kenyans changed their constitution in 2010, the issue did not improve, instead, it became worse since the Deputy President is now being protected by the constitution from being dismissed by the President. Thus, continued friction has a serious impact on the lives of ordinary people. The article is hinged on desk review and some insights observed by the author as an “outsider” who resided in that country. The article is a modification of the essay developed and shared in public through the author’s blog in 2022 as Kenya prepared for its general elections. The feedback received from the readers further shaped the article in its current form. The article takes a historical approach as it tracks the key events from 1963 to 2022 with regard to the two offices in Kenya. It concludes that the problem emanated from ambitious deputies but was also amplified by the insecurities felt by the successive Presidents. The article recommends a review of the constitution to allow members of the public to decide on the fate of a deputy president in extreme cases.

The role of secondary school teachers in shaping a political culture of ethnicity and ethnic favouritism: the case of Kenya

AbstractSince Kenya's independence in 1963, ethnicity has been an important factor in Kenyan politics and everyday life. While recent research has shown that ethnic favouritism impacted the allocation of educational resources in the past, so far, no systematic research has been conducted on how teachers exacerbate, mitigate or countervail the political culture of ethnicity and ethnic favouritism. As agents of socialisation, teachers’ attitudes and behaviour can, consciously or unconsciously, convey the message that ethnic favouritism is normal and socially acceptable, or conversely delegitimise such practices. Based on a list experiment among 894 secondary school teachers in the county of Nairobi, we find that at least 25% of teachers have already favoured coethnic pupils. Interviews indicate that such favours are seldom blatant in nature and mainly serve to show solidarity with one's kin. Still, even small – frequently well-intentioned – favours may damage inter-group attitudes, trust and relations, and may even contribute to the persistence of ethnic politics.

Elections in Kenya: When All Roads in East Africa Lead to Nairobi

Kenya went to the elections in August 2022. The increasing unpredictable and competitive elections have often down-graded general election trends in the East Africa region where predetermined outcomes and poll fixing are the often norm Kenya was not going to be an exception. However, the case in Kenya was different this time. The era of unquestionable linchpins in Kenyan politics seemed to no longer dictate the tone among Kenyan voters. The voting alliance usually set among ethnic lines appeared to have been a matter of the past. Leading candidates set tone by disowning violence and instead appealed for peace to their supporters during the process of elections. Independent monitoring via parallel vote tabulations and public access of data released by the electoral commission from polling stations kept the public informed of the contest. Before the elections, during and after, anxiety was on the rise within Kenya, among Kenya’s neighbors, the rest of Africa and elsewhere.
 This study examines the 2022 General Election in Kenya as to the maturity of the Kenya electorate against all the odds that has always beset the nation during such particular times. The example set is worth emulation by willing neighboring East African and African states in particular and the world at large. Literature on the elections from reliable daily and weekly tabloids, newsreels, interviews from the mass media, one- to- one debates with political analysts, active participation in panel discussions on the election and discussion groups furnished the necessary information to put something on paper. The general consensus in the discussion groups pitted Kenya to have made a leap forward.
 The conclusion can be drawn that a significant progress has been made in Kenya’s election process since 2007-2008. The process in 2022 has displayed a maturity of democracy worth rivalling.

Media Framing of the First Administration of Devolution in Kenya

ABSTRACT The current research, which content analysed 565 news stories in the Daily Nation and The Standard, examined media framing of devolution in Kenya between 2013 and 2017. It examined the most dominant frame in the four-year coverage of devolution, whether the coverage used episodic or thematic framing, and whether the tone of newspaper reports was positive or negative. Findings show that the coverage of devolution was conflict-driven, episodic, and negative. The dominance of the conflict frames shows that the polarised nature of Kenyan politics continues to influence media coverage of devolution, leaving Kenyans without a deeper understanding of how the implementation of devolution impacts development or a grasp on the challenges the new system of governance continues to grapple with.

A linguistic analysis of representation of corruption and corruption-related clauses in Kenyan print media

The purpose of this paper is to examine how language is used to represent the menace of corruption in Kenyan Print Media. Corruption has become a burning issue in Kenya as a country and in organizational research. It has been a long-standing debate in the Kenyan political and economic sphere, relevant not only at the national level but also having impact in rural areas where county governments were introduced through the 2010 constitution. However, few studies examine how corruption issue is socially constructed linguistically in print media. The study examines all reportage on corruption as a social issue in the Daily newspaper and the Standard Newspaper from February 2020 to February 2021. The study applied Fairclough’s (1989, 1990, 2001) Critical Discourse Analysis theoretical framework. The study employed analytical research design. The findings of the study revealed the use of linguistic elements that advance and amplify the reporting on corruption related issues. Such elements include the use of lexical items such as nouns and verbs, voice, epithets and indigenization. The results show that messages on corruption are framed in a persuasive manner to influence the readers and to evoke thoughts on this menace that has hardly affected the taxpayers. The study concludes that language is a powerful tool that newspaper writers use to influence the readers and to evoke thoughts on corruption that has hardly affected the taxpayers.

Face Threatening Acts in Political Discourse: A Case of the Building Bridges Initiative in Kenya

Cut-throat competitions have, in recent times, characterised Kenyan politics. Political contestants use language in these competitions. How well these politicians package and sell their agenda depends on their choice of words and complementary paralinguistic features. Political contenders fend off opposition through utterances hence making politics largely a game of words. In a multiparty and multi-ethnic state like Kenya, every political party and ethnic group always have differing interests at a given time, often sparking bitter exchanges between politicians from different camps. Individuals, activists, activist groups, and commissions have often accused the political class of hate speech and insensitive language. This study, alive to the aforementioned, is an attempt at a pragmatic examination of the verbal communication of the Kenyan political class as they differ in ideas over a highly contested matter of national political interest, in this case, the Building Bridges Initiative (henceforth BBI). The study benefits from Brown's and Levinson's (1987) Politeness. Austin's (1962) Speech Acts Theory complements politeness theory. The study adopts an analytical research design of the discourse of five politicians purposively sampled from two events where the matters of BBI issues were the main agenda of discussion. Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) were elicited and explained analytically from the speaker's talks. A descriptive qualitative research technique is used in the analysis of data. The study finds that the political class in Kenya employs both positive and negative FTAs proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) to achieve means to their ends. This study concludes that several FTAs are employed in political discourse in Kenya, and these FTAs reinforce the effectiveness of communication on such platforms.

Camps and counterterrorism: Security and the remaking of refuge in Kenya

This article examines the enduring entanglements of counterterror governance and refugee encampment in Kenya. The spectre of “terrorism” and its supposed remedy—“counterterrorism”—have loomed large in Kenyan politics since the 1990s and gained further traction since the country’s military invasion and occupation of southern Somalia in 2011. Few other spaces have been associated as persistently with threats to Kenya’s national security and sovereignty as the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in the country’s Northern belt, which are popularly depicted as “wombs” of terror. In this article, we analyze the transformation of refugee governance in Kenya under the auspices of the War on Terror and consider how counterterrorism has become a way of governing both refugees and precarious ethnoracialized citizens. We provide a multi-scalar analysis that moves between the scales of global militarization, Kenyan state governance, as well as securitized spaces of camps, checkpoints, and policing. The article concludes that refugee camps are not only gateways for imported global counterterror initiatives, but key sites of locally defined state-making processes in which Kenya’s counterterror state is (re)assembled as part of a planetary architecture of humanitarian containment and militarized apartheid.

Tribeless and democratic youth? Political attitudes of Kenyan university students toward ethnicity and democracy

ABSTRACT University students have often played a critical role in shaping political dynamics across sub-Saharan Africa. This article situates the expressed political attitudes of students at the University of Nairobi (UoN) within the context of current Kenyan politics. Given the high saliency of ethnicity in the latter, we are particularly interested in how university students define themselves, how they view and engage with the politicization of ethnicity, and how they view members of other communities. Using original survey data from the UoN collected in 2018, this article fills a gap in the existing literature on Kenyan politics, which seldom concentrates on youth or students. Our findings demonstrate that although Kenyan university students aspire to move beyond ethnic politics, ethnicity often shapes their view of their fellow citizens and government action. Overall, we do not find strong evidence that university students will alter the underlying dynamics of Kenyan politics.

9 - The Use of Land to Generate Political Support

Abstract

Political Micro-Targeting in Kenya: An Analysis of the Legality of Data-Driven Campaign Strategies under the Data Protection Act

The 2013 general election marked the entry of data-driven campaigning into Kenyan politics as political parties begun collecting and storing voter data. More sophisticated techniques were deployed in 2017 as politicians retained the services of data analytics firms such as Cambridge Analytica, accused of digital colonialism and undermining democracies. It is alleged that political parties engaged in regular targeting and more intrusive micro-targeting, facilitated by the absence of a data protection legal framework.The promulgation of the Data Protection Act, 2019, ostensibly remedied this gap. This paper analyses whether, and to what extent, political parties can rely on the same–or similar– regular targeting and micro-targeting techniques in subsequent elections. While regular targeting differs from micro-targeting as the latter operates at a more granular level, both comprise of three steps- collecting a voter’s personal data, profiling them, and sending out targeted messages.
 This paper considers the legality of each of these steps in turn. It finds that going forward, such practices will likely require the consent of the data subject. However, the Act provides for several exceptions which political parties could abuse to circumvent this requirement. There are also considerable loopholes that allow open access to voter data in the electoral list as well as the personal data of the members of a rival political party. The efficacy of the Data Protection Act will largely rest on whether the Data Protection Commissioner will interpret it progressively and hold political parties to account.

Politicians in Newspaper News: Who Attracts Coverage in Kenyan Politics

The present research examines the coverage of 349 Kenyan politicians in four English national newspapers between 2013 and 2017. Within the contexts of media coverage based on news values, and reporting as a mirror of political reality, the study investigates whether gender, tribe, party size, seniority, committee or party leadership, commenting on corruption and devolution, and criticizing the government predicted the visibility of members of parliament (MPs) in newspaper news. Findings show that seniority, committee or party leadership, commenting on devolution and corruption, and criticizing government emerged as the main predictors of the parliamentarians’ coverage in news media. Overall, committee or party leadership, commenting on corruption, and criticizing the government were the strongest determinants of the MPs coverage.

Contesting the Subaltern Narrative: The Trickster Trope in the Kenyan Political Autobiography

ABSTRACT This article is a critique of the idea of subalternity 1 as it is used in the Kenyan political autobiographies of leaders who have reigned but never ruled. 2 The study is largely located within postcolonial theory, with particular emphasis on the strand that interrogates the interest that inhabits the production of knowledges about the self. The biographical method was used to analyse Jaramogi Odinga’s Not Yet Uhuru, Bildad Kaggia’s The Roots of Freedom, Raila Odinga’s The Flame of Freedom and Joseph Murumbi’s The Path Not Taken. Interrogating the dangers of a single story, the paper argues that the Kenyan political autobiography is heavily loaded with rhetorical performances determined by the need to tell an effective story. Using trickery, and hiding behind the hackneyed utopian concept of speaking truth to power, the leaders examined here project selves that are fearless, bold and revolutionaries aiming to forcefully and strategically mythologise themselves. This process is made possible in the contexts of historical (re)writing. Thus, Jaramogi, Kaggia, Raila and Murumbi’s portrayal of themselves as victims and subalterns in their autobiographies are for disguise, deception, and indirection while maintaining an outward impression, in power-laden situations, of willing, even enthusiastic consent.

How to Be Freed from a Leadership Curse? A Political ‘Code of Conduct’ by the Nandi Council of Elders during the 2013 Elections in Kenya

In April 2012, more than a year before Kenya’s 2013 elections, the Nandi Kaburwo Council of Elders in Nandi Hills undertook the original task of writing the Nandi County Political Code of Conduct (NCPCC). Throughout Kenya, the pre-election period was characterized by a significant involvement of councils of elders in spreading messages of peace and promoting “good leadership,” unlike 2007 when these councils played an active role in mobilizing Kenyans to take part in the post-electoral violence. Printed as an 8-page booklet, the NCPCC was targeting local candidates, their supporters and political parties. It displayed regulations aimed to contribute to the “transformation of Nandi County” into a prosperous place, an “island of new politics, free of political madness.” Inspired from the role models of the Kenyan “Goodwill Ambassadors” for peace put in place in 2012, and based on oral narratives about iconic pre-colonial Nandi leaders—such as Kimnyolei and Koitalel Samoei—, this code of conduct brings to light cultural, social, economic and political dynamics mobilized by a wide range of actors (NGO, elders, candidates, entrepreneurs) during electoral times. Therefore, I believe it is crucial for the researcher to present and analyze it as a primary source that illustrates the aspirations and strategies of a local elite with their own conception of leadership. More broadly, through this original document, one can question the role played by councils of elders in Kenyan politics from a grassroots perspective, as well as the role they play in “re-inventing” their political history under the guise of preserving traditions.