Essay On Multi Party State In Kenya
:
Kenya’s Journey from A Single Party State to A Multi-Party State
Authors Name:
Institution
Kenya’s Journey from A Single Party State to A Multi-Party State
Like most countries in Africa during post-independence that were affected by single party politics, Kenya was not left out of the scene. The dominant parties rose due to the struggle of independence that was facing major countries. At the time most African states preferred having one united front to beat their colonial masters since ‘United we stand divided we fall’ was more of the mentality (Tordoff, 1997). From the beginning, Kenya was a single-party state as this was represented by the Kenya African Union that was formed in 1944. The purpose of K.A.U was to present …show more content…
In September of 1983, there were parliamentary elections under a single party for the first time, and the 1988 elections hammered the concept of the one party system.Human rights violations were the theme during this era. Thiswas also propagated by the lack of legal guarantees. Judges were subject to the executive and this meant loss of a job if one decided to counter the government policies. This meant that a lot of people wouldbe denied access to justice. The single party system promised that ethnicity would be subdued. This was not the situation as the period saw the rise of the Kalenjin community. The government also curtailed freedom of expression. GitobuImanyara, the then editor of the Nairobi Law Monthly, was arrested because of promoting multipartyism(KHRC, 1998). Civil liberties were also denied. As a consequence, if anybody wanted to travel outside the country to promotemultipartyism they were refused permission to go. This is evident when a lawyer’s passport was taken in a bid for him not to attend a conference on …show more content…
Forum for the Restoration of Democracy(FORD) was formed by OgingaOdinga and six other opposition leaders in 1991(Throup and Hornsby, 1998). Later that year FORD was termed as illegal by the government. This saw several members of FORD arrested and detained. The effect of the unlawful arrests and detention saw financial aid being withdrawn from Kenya. The withdrawal of foreign aid become permanent on 26th November in 1991.This led to thelegalization of the multi-party system. President Moi soon succumbed to the pressure. International pressure coupled with domestic pressure forced President Moi to agree to reform to Multi-Party system by repealing Section 2A of the independence constitution that saw Kenya become a multi-party
Kenya’s Journey from A Single Party State to A Multi-Party State
Authors Name:
Institution
Kenya’s Journey from A Single Party State to A Multi-Party State
Like most countries in Africa during post-independence that were affected by single party politics, Kenya was not left out of the scene. The dominant parties rose due to the struggle of independence that was facing major countries. At the time most African states preferred having one united front to beat their colonial masters since ‘United we stand divided we fall’ was more of the mentality (Tordoff, 1997). From the beginning, Kenya was a single-party state as this was represented by the Kenya African Union that was formed in 1944. The purpose of K.A.U was to present …show more content…
In September of 1983, there were parliamentary elections under a single party for the first time, and the 1988 elections hammered the concept of the one party system.Human rights violations were the theme during this era. Thiswas also propagated by the lack of legal guarantees. Judges were subject to the executive and this meant loss of a job if one decided to counter the government policies. This meant that a lot of people wouldbe denied access to justice. The single party system promised that ethnicity would be subdued. This was not the situation as the period saw the rise of the Kalenjin community. The government also curtailed freedom of expression. GitobuImanyara, the then editor of the Nairobi Law Monthly, was arrested because of promoting multipartyism(KHRC, 1998). Civil liberties were also denied. As a consequence, if anybody wanted to travel outside the country to promotemultipartyism they were refused permission to go. This is evident when a lawyer’s passport was taken in a bid for him not to attend a conference on …show more content…
Forum for the Restoration of Democracy(FORD) was formed by OgingaOdinga and six other opposition leaders in 1991(Throup and Hornsby, 1998). Later that year FORD was termed as illegal by the government. This saw several members of FORD arrested and detained. The effect of the unlawful arrests and detention saw financial aid being withdrawn from Kenya. The withdrawal of foreign aid become permanent on 26th November in 1991.This led to thelegalization of the multi-party system. President Moi soon succumbed to the pressure. International pressure coupled with domestic pressure forced President Moi to agree to reform to Multi-Party system by repealing Section 2A of the independence constitution that saw Kenya become a multi-party