AfricaBib 
bibliographic database
| Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Kenya: out of the straitjacket, slowly |
| Author: | Makinda, S.M. |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Periodical: | The World Today: Chatham House Review |
| Volume: | 48 |
| Issue: | 10 |
| Pages: | 188-192 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Kenya |
| Subjects: | political change multiparty systems |
| Abstract: | Kenya, for many years a one-party dictatorship, is poised to have its first postindependence multiparty election by February 1993. Since the one-party system was scrapped in December 1991, several political parties have emerged, tribal violence has increased, and President Daniel Arap Moi's government has come under unrelenting criticism both over its failure to curb corruption and over its alleged role in abetting the violence. This article briefly explains Moi's rule, analyses the domestic factors that have contributed to the decision to permit a multiparty system, and describes the prospects as well as the costs and benefits of multiparty politics in Kenya. Attention is paid to the bases of Moi's power; the power struggle between Moi and his adviser Charles Njonjo; tribalism (the three biggest tribes in Kenya are the Kikuyu, Luo and Luya, while Moi belongs to the minority Kalenjin tribe); the position of the Parliament; vote-rigging during elections; and corruption and the mysterious death in February 1990 of the former Foreign Minister, Robert Ouko. Theoretically, the multiparty system might help reduce corruption and demand more accountability on the part of the government. But it can be, and already has been, exploited by some politicians to encourage tribalism. Note, ref. |