Civil Society And The Politics Of Constitutional Reforms In Kenya: A Case Study Of The National Convention Executive Council (NCEC)

Abstract

This paper examines and analyses the role of the National Convention Executive Council (NCEC) in engaging the Kenyan state for constitutional reforms. It argues that although NCEC (through mass action) was able to force the regime to initiate dialogue with the opposition and civil society formations, it did not succeed in engendering state commitment to the letter and spirit of accords emergent out of these engagements. The paper attributes this to two core factors: that is the regimes ability to divide and successfully isolate the radical formation from the mainstream opposition and the religious sector co-optation, economic motivation and diplomatic duplicity and the inability of NCEC’s leadership to interpret social process correctly, to the extent of evolving right institutional design and programmatic responses for mobilisation; and engagement of state.