The Politics of Violence in Kenya
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Citation
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
"So this is how it begins" (a Kenyan political scientist, Nairobi, January 2008).
To the outside world, Kenya in 2007 was a model of stability and future possibilities. The
draconian repression experienced under President Moi in the 1980s and 1990s finally had
ended. It was replaced with hard-fought-for freedoms of speech, the press, and association.
They emerged towards the end of Moi's rule and were expanded after President Kibaki's
election in 2002. The days of imprisonment, detention without trial, and torture of opposition
party supporters were gone. Kenya's once vibrant economy had been decimated and brought
to its knees by Moi. However, by 2007, just five years after installing a new government,
Kenya had an annual growth rate of over 6% and was poised to do even better. The mood
was optimistic and most thought Kenya was back on an economic roll. Some in government
spoke of Kenya following East Asia's "tigers," and becoming another Newly Industrialized
Country (NIC). This was just one side of the story.
The other was captured by Kenya's low scores on the World Bank's Governance
Indicators, placing it below the mean for Sub-Saharan Africa in three of the following four
areas: government effectiveness (28%/28%), political stability (15%/35.6%), control of
corruption (16%/30%), and the rule of law (15.7%/28.8%). 1 Kenya was still rocked by
financial scandals at the top of government, its infrastructure continued to crumble, and
foreign companies were still skittish about investing in the country. 2 Crime, including
gunfights in the central business district of Nairobi, carjacking, holdups in houses, and
gangland style murders, peppered the lives of ordinary Kenyans and others. This duality of
both positive transformation and imminent decay aptly characterized Kenya in the post-Moi
era.[TRUNCATED]
Description
African Studies Center Working Paper No. 257
License
Copyright © 2008, by the author.