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Kenya: Identity and Insecurity in a Modernizing State

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Peacebuilding in Deeply Divided Societies

Part of the book series: Rethinking Political Violence ((RPV))

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Abstract

In this chapter, Cox, Ndung’u, and Njuguna provide an in-depth analysis of how policy-makers and peacebuilders apply the concept of social cohesion in various efforts to resolve and manage insecurity and inter-ethnic group conflicts across Kenya, a rapidly modernizing state. Identity-based divisions in Kenya contribute to different types of insecurity, including ethnic conflicts, acts of terrorism, and ethno-religious riots that are reinforced through exclusivist, ethnocentric narratives. Under these conditions, Cox, Ndung’u, and Njuguna interrogate donors’ efforts to enhance state legitimacy and effective, equitable service delivery.They find evidence of identity-based divisions shaping the allocation of state resources, and even donor resources directed toward peacebuilding. As a result, formal institutions designed to promote inclusivity in Kenya do not clearly result in social cohesion. The nature of ethnic identity as the primary basis for elite-driven political coalitions in Kenya makes it difficult for civil society leaders to rally support for the broader social cohesion agenda.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Approximately 350,000 people were displaced from their residences and or businesses according to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Post-Election Violence in Kenya.

  2. 2.

    “Kenya’s Politics: Still Too Tribal,” The Economist, June 9, 2012, http://www.economist.com/node/21556601.

  3. 3.

    “Third of Govt’s 2011/12 Expenditure Unaccounted for: Audit,” accessed October 8, 2013, http://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Third-of-govt-expenditure-unaccounted-for/-/1064/2024096/-/xrpmwgz/-/index.html.

  4. 4.

    “Use of Sh 67 billion queried by the auditor,” Daily Nation, July 29, 2015, 1.

  5. 5.

    Korwar Adar and Munyae Isaac, “Human Rights Abuse in Kenya Under Daniel Arap Moi, 1978–2001,” African Studies Quarterly 5, no. 1 (2001): 1–17.

  6. 6.

    Swahili meaning “footsteps” and meant Moi would follow the footsteps of the founding president of Kenya.

  7. 7.

    Road to Cohesion: Grassroots Conversations About Ethnicity and Nationalism in Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya: National Cohesion and Integration Commission, 2012).

  8. 8.

    “Afrobarometer Kenya: Round 5 Results,” accessed January 20, 2014, http://www.afrobarometer.org/results/results-by-country-a-m/kenya accessed on January 20, 2014.

  9. 9.

    Interview with the authors. Nairobi, Kenya, July 15, 2013.

  10. 10.

    Ibid., July 22, 2013.

  11. 11.

    Ibid

  12. 12.

    Ibid., July 17, 2013.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., July 16, 2013.

  14. 14.

    Damaris Seleina Parsitau, “From Prophetic Voices to Lack of Voice: Christian Churches in Kenya and the Dynamics of Voice and Voicelesness in a Multi-Religious Space,” Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Egerton University, http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/6620/Parsitau.pdf?sequence=1, accessed on November 16, 2013.

  15. 15.

    Interview with the authors. Nairobi, Kenya, July 29, 2013.

  16. 16.

    See Parsitau, “From Prophetic Voices to Lack of Voice.”

  17. 17.

    Standard Media, https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000175485/icc-leaders-claim-the-court-has-predetermined-outcome-of-kenya-s-cases/

  18. 18.

    The inter-religious council is comprised of: Kenya Episcopal Conference-Catholic Secretariat (KEC-CS), National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK), Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC-Kenya), Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) for Christians, Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM), National Muslim Leaders Forum (NAMLEF), Shia Ithnashari Muslim Association (SHIA), and Hindu Council of Kenya (HCK).

  19. 19.

    Research participants 6, 11, 13, and 28, Interviews with the authors, Nairobi, Kenya, July 2013.

  20. 20.

    Focus Group Discussion with the authors, Isiolo, Kenya, July 25, 2013.

  21. 21.

    Ibid., Nairobi, Kenya, July 16, 2013.

  22. 22.

    Eunice Kamaara, “Religions and Emerging Religious Movements in Kenya,” http://international.iupui.edu/kenya/resources/Religions-and-Emerging-Religious-Movements_Paper.pdf, accessed on November 16, 2013.

  23. 23.

    For a summary of the Ndung’u Report see, Southall (2005).

  24. 24.

    See also Lilian Aluanga-Delvaux, “Can Attacks Give Rise to Christian Extremism,” The Standard, November 2, 2013. See also Haji Kariuki, “The Radical Wave Giving Some Muslim Clergy Sleepless Nights,” posted in Daily Nation on Friday, February 21, 2014.

  25. 25.

    See Mwandawiro Mghanga, Usipoziba Ufa Utajenga Ukuta: Land, Elections, and Conflicts in Kenya’s Coast Province, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 2010.

  26. 26.

    Rachel Sweet Vanderpoel, “Religious Equality in Kenya? Adjudicating the Constitutionality of Kenya’s Kadhis’ Courts,” Regulating Religion E-Journal (2012).

  27. 27.

    Institute of Security Studies, Assessing the Vulnerability of Kenyan Youths to Radicalisation and Extremism, http://www.issafrica.org/uploads/Paper245.pdf.

  28. 28.

    Ibid.

  29. 29.

    For example, nine of a group of 15 young men named by police as having left for Kismayu were Kenyans aged between 24–32 and resided in Majengo and Mombasa. See “Police Name 15 Key Shabaab Fugitives,” Daily Nation, December 31, 2011, http://allafrica.com/stories/201112310068.html, accessed on Sunday October 6, 2013.

  30. 30.

    Institute of Security Studies, Assessing the Vulnerability of Kenyan Youths, 9.

  31. 31.

    The Security Laws (Amendment Bill), 2014 which was acrimoniously passed into law by a divided parliament was seen as largely a reactive measure and one that violated people’s fundamental rights and freedoms.

  32. 32.

    Human Rights Watch, High Stakes: Political Violence and the 2013 Elections in Kenya (2013).

  33. 33.

    Human Rights Watch, Criminal Reprisals: Kenyan Police and Military Abuses against Ethnic Somalis (2012).

  34. 34.

    TJRC, 59.

  35. 35.

    Interview with the authors, Nairobi, Kenya, July 18, 2013.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., July 23, 2013.

  37. 37.

    NSC, “National Conflict Mapping and Analysis: Peace and Conflict Trends in Kenya” (2011).

  38. 38.

    South Consulting, The Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation (KNDR) Monitoring Project: Status of Implementation of Agenda Items 1–4, Third Review Report, Open Society Institute; Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation, Statement of Principles on Long-Term Issues and Solutions (2009).

  39. 39.

    International Crisis Group, Kenya After the Elections, Africa Briefing No. 94, (Nairobi, Kenya, 2013), 2.

  40. 40.

    Business Daily, “Massive Corruption in Counties Exposed,” http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Massive-corruption-in-counties-exposed/-/539546/2224876/-/dx6xjh/-/index.html.

  41. 41.

    See UNDAF 2009–2013. The new UNDAF for 2014 is still under review.

  42. 42.

    See UNDAF 2009, p. 6.

  43. 43.

    “Community Security and Social Cohesion Approach,” UN Conceptual and Strategic Framework for Peace Building and Conflict Prevention in Kenya, January 2010.

  44. 44.

    “The Changing Nature of Conflict: Priorities for UNDP Response” United Nations Development Programme Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, February 2013.

  45. 45.

    Interview with the authors, Nairobi, Kenya, July 17, 2013.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., July 15, 2013.

  47. 47.

    Ibid.

  48. 48.

    See Saferworld and Conciliation Resources’ 19th Paper – Lessons Learnt from the People’s Peacemaking Perspectives, 2012, http://www.saferworld.org.uk/news-and-views/case-study/13-peoples-peacemaking-perspectives.

  49. 49.

    Interview with the authors, Nairobi, Kenya, July 24, 2013.

  50. 50.

    With the advent of devolution, the structures are evolving taking into account the new governance structures but the national government through county commissioners continues to play a central role in the new structures.

  51. 51.

    Ibid., 48.

  52. 52.

    Office of the President, December, 2011, National Policy on Peacebuilding and Conflict Management (Final Version), 9.

  53. 53.

    GoK, National Policy on Peace-building and Conflict Management.

  54. 54.

    For example, see: Van Tongeren 2013; Odendaal 2013.

  55. 55.

    The NCIC is a statutory body established under the National Cohesion and Integration Act (Act No.12 of 2008).The NCIC draws its existence from the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Agreement signed in Nairobi on February 1, 2008, by the Government; Party of National Unity (PNU) and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) delegations, and witnessed by H.E. Kofi A. Annan for the Panel of Eminent African Personalities.

  56. 56.

    Research Participant 25, Interview with the authors, Nairobi, Kenya, July 24, 2013.

  57. 57.

    These include Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), USAID, UNDP, GIZ, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

  58. 58.

    The National Cohesion and Integration Act No. 12 of 2008, Article 13 (1) A (a–e).

  59. 59.

    Interview with NCCK.

  60. 60.

    The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Act 2008, Part II, 3–6.

  61. 61.

    Summary of the TJRC Report by the Kenya Transitional Justice Network, August 2013, p. 3. http://www.acordinternational.org/silo/files/kenya-tjrc-summary-report-aug-2013.pdf

  62. 62.

    See comments by Okero Otieno (Programme Analyst-DGU), January 2014, in UNDP e-Consultation: A Critical Review of Reconciliation as a Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Mechanism.

  63. 63.

    Emmanuel Kisiangani and Mashaka Lewela, “Kenya’s New Constitution: Political Musical Chairs and Inertia Taint Implementation,” Institute for Security Studies, accessed on September 11, 2013, http://www.issafrica.org/iss-today/kenyas-new-constitution-political-musical-chairs-and-inertia-taint-implementation.

  64. 64.

    International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC), IPSTC Issue Briefs Series (Nairobi: IPSTC, 2011).

  65. 65.

    Daniel Branch, “Sticking Together Is the Winning Formula for Kenya,” Daily Nation, July 26, 2013.

  66. 66.

    Ibid.

  67. 67.

    Interview with the authors, Nairobi, Kenya, July 22, 2013.

  68. 68.

    Ibid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, William Jewell College, Liberty, MO, USA

    Fletcher D. Cox

  2. Sié Chéou Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy, Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA

    Fletcher D. Cox

  3. Saferworld, Nairobi, Kenya

    James Ndung’u & Esther Njuguna

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  1. Fletcher D. Cox
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  2. James Ndung’u
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  3. Esther Njuguna
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Correspondence to Fletcher D. Cox .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri, USA

    Fletcher D. Cox

  2. Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Timothy D. Sisk

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Cox, F.D., Ndung’u, J., Njuguna, E. (2017). Kenya: Identity and Insecurity in a Modernizing State. In: Cox, F., Sisk, T. (eds) Peacebuilding in Deeply Divided Societies . Rethinking Political Violence. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50715-6_4

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