Reform and political impunity in Kenya: transparency without accountability

Abstract: Kenya has been going through a period of political reform since 1991, when section 2A of the constitution, which had made Kenya a de jure one-party state, was repealed. This reform followed a prolonged struggle on the part of citizens both inside and outside the country, and their call for democracy was one that, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was embraced by Western countries. Via diplomatic pressure and conditionality on aid, Western donors played an important role in the repeal of section 2A, the return of multiparty elections, and the creation and reform of a number of political institutions and offices via a separation of powers. But although these changes were supported by the political opposition and much of civil society in Kenya, they did not rise organically from the national struggle over political power. Nor did these reforms lead to a determination in the country to hold the political elite accountable for their transgressions. This article argues that modern Kenya's history of economic and political inequality has resulted in a population whose very divisions make it difficult for politicians to be disciplined. Accountability has two dimensions: the horizontal accountability among branches of government that is assured by checks and balances, and the vertical accountability of the state to its citizens. Vertical accountability depends on a constituency of like-minded citizens defending broad national interests, or an electorate with a collective identity or set of identities attached to the Kenyan nation. But in the absence of such shared goals and demands, narrow personal and local interests prevail, and politicians remain unaccountable to the nation as a whole. Resume: Le Kenya traverse une periode de reformes politiques depuis 1991, lorsque la section 2A de la constitution, qui avait jusque-la fait du Kenya un etat a parti unique de droit, a ete revoquee. Cette reforme est arrivee a la suite d'un long combat impliquant les citoyens a l'interieur et a l'exterieur du pays, leur appel a la democratie ayant ete soutenu par les pays occidentaux apres la chute du mur de Berlin. Avec l'appui d'une pression diplomatique et de conditions placees sur l'aide humanitaire, les donateurs de fonds occidentaux ont joue un role important dans le rejet de la section 2A, le retour aux elections multipartites, a la creation et aux reformes d'un certain nombre d'institutions politiques via le principe de separation des pouvoirs. Mais bien que ces changements aient ete soutenus par l'opposition et la plupart de la societe civile du Kenya, ils n'ont pas ete l'aboutissement naturel d'un combat national pour la prise de pouvoir politique. Ces reformes n'ont pas mene non plus a un engagement determine dans le pays d'exiger que l'elite politique rende des comptes sur ses transgressions et abus de pouvoir. Cet article postule que la presence d'inegalites economiques et politiques dans l'histoire moderne du Kenya a engendre des divisions au sein de la population kenyane qui n'aident pas les pouvoirs politiques a faire preuve de discipline. La notion de responsabilite se presente sur deux dimensions : la responsabilite horizontale a l'interieur des branches du gouvernement qui est assuree par un systeme de verifications et de comptes-rendus, et la responsabilite verticale de l'etat envers ses constituants. La responsabilite verticale depend d'un ensemble de citoyens unis par des interets larges qu'ils defendent, ou sur un electorat avec soit une identite collective, soit un ensemble d'identites attachees a la nation kenyane. Or, en l'absence d'une vision unifiee et d'attentes communes, les interets locaux et personnels prennent le pas sur l'interet commun, et les pouvoirs politiques ne sont pas tenus de rendre des comptes a la nation dans son ensemble. "To set up a state is easy, but to create a nation is extremely difficult. We are still suffering the consequences." -Murat Belge (2008) (speaking of Turkey) Introduction On August 4, 2010, in a national referendum with a 72 percent turnout, Kenyans overwhelmingly voted "yes" by a margin of 67 to 31 percent for a new constitution. …