Political Science

 This is a briefing note addressed to the United States of America Secretary of State concerning the need by The United States to present its democratic policy to Kenya.  Throughout the history of time, Kenya has grown to become a strategic partner of the United States both in East Africa and beyond. Hence, the country remains to be of vital America’s security and economic interests.  This briefing is for the use in the upcoming meeting between the Secretary of State and Kenya’s Head of State scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from November 12th to 15th.


Background
    One of the fundamental issues which should be addressed by a majority of African nations is democracy and good governance.  The present-day 21st century social and economic challenges facing the African continent have made the need to uphold democracy as well as good governance to be paramount. A closer look at this continent reveals the fact that despite it being endowed with a great deal of resources and expertise, poverty and failed leadership have taken their toll on the people as has been argued by Maathai (2009). As one moves from one country to the next in the continent, it is evident to note that people are greatly disillusioned by their respective leaders according to the World Bank report (2009). The few which have been cited to being democratic on the other hand have done very little if any to improve the present status of events.

    The rapid increase in the number of coup attempts should serve as a warning to the rest of the world that the African people are frustrated. According to Esispisu and Isaac (2009), majority of societies in Africa are yearning for democracy. To this end, Kenya has not been an exception. It is imperative to note that there is a positive correlation between failed leadership and increase in global security. The fact that Kenya is bordering the Taliban backed and troubled Somalia makes the absence of democracy and good governance to be top priority to the United States of America. Failure by the Kenyan leaders to uphold the principles of good governance and democracy increases America’s vulnerability within the region. More often than not, Kenya has always been viewed to be a great ally of the United States of America an aspect which has helped the latter to strengthen its presence in the region.  Furthermore, in the recent past, Kenya has been instrumental in terms of complementing America’s efforts on the war againist terror. In addition, this nation has grown to become one of America’s economic partners within the region for quite a long time in comparison to other East African nations.

    The United States on the other hand has had a long history of engagement with Kenya on a range of issues especially in the last three decades. In particular, the framework for its engagement with Kenya has always been centered on helping the country to develop economically. A number of economic development projects have in the past been initiated by America in order to help this nation to grow and eradicate poverty among its citizens. However, despite America’s efforts, Kenya has always been faced with the challenge of lack of democracy. Throughout its history since independence, Kenya has been witnessing bad leadership from one regime to the next. Most of the leaders have always used unconventional means to ascend and stay in power which in turn has led to the present-day high poverty index amongst its people. The previous regime for instance was characterized by lack of respect for democracy according to Maathai (2009). During this period, dictatorship was substituted for democracy and thereby leading to blatant violation of basic or fundamental human rights and high poverty index. In this regard, it is imperative for the United States of America to present its policy on democracy to Kenya in order to help strengthen the country within the region.

Kenya’s current Situation
    Just as it has been the case with the previous elections, the 2007 Kenya’s general elections were marred by allegations of rigging and lack of respect for the rule of law as presented by Wessendoff (2009). To some, the then incumbent president Mr. Mwai Kibaki won the tightly contested general elections according to Kossler (2008). Yet still, others held the opinion that the opposition had won the election by a wide margin but had been rigged out in this regard. This controversy led to unprecedented three-month period of post election skirmishes. Statistics from the national security registry show approximately 1200 persons lost their lives in this violence. At the same time, approximately 250, 000 individuals were displaced owing to the fact that this violation was based along ethnic lines as presented by Kriegler (2008) and Human Rights Watch (2008).

    Concerted efforts by the United States as well as the European Union led to the establishment of a coalition government using the German government model. In this arrangement, the county was presented with the president and the prime minister, a move that helped to quell the post election violence within the country. One of the key issues that the two leaders were to address as a matter of urgency was institution of democratic reforms before the next general elections scheduled to be held in the year 2012 according to Kriegler (2008). This was to take the approach of development of key reforms in all the three arms of the government namely; the judiciary, the executive and the legislature in order to anchor the country on sound democratic practices. In principle, this would necessitate radical changes in the country’s constitution.

    It is imperative to note that two years after the formation of the grand coalition government, as it is commonly referred to, key fundamental democratic reforms have not been instituted as was promised. With 2012 fast approaching, there is the possibility that the country could be plunged into a similar violence as was the case with the 2007 general elections. Against this backdrop, the international community has been applying pressure to the leaders to come up with key democratic reforms in order to safe guard the lives of Kenyans. Consequently, this has led to the two leaders initiating the process of making the constitution. Currently, this process is at the debate stage within the public domain. At this stage, members of the public are required to read the harmonized constitutional draft, debate the various contentious issues and submit their proposals to the country’s constitutional review committee.

    Kenya’s ability to finally appreciate the tenets of democracy shall have both direct and indirect impacts on America’s influence within the region. Building on the current cordial relationship with the nation, America is therefore provided with the perfect opportunity to present its policy on democracy during this meeting (Europa Publications, 2004).  Hence, it is important for the United States to take into account that its democratic policy is relevant to the Kenyan context since it is founded on the premise of upholding the rule of law as well as principles of good governance as argued by Weintraub (2000).  America’s voice towards the importance for the Kenyan leaders to respect and develop the various elements of democracy at various levels of governance is desired in this regard. The constitution making process which is currently under way provides the perfect platform for the United States to present its policy on democracy in terms of recommendations on how the Kenyan government can strengthen its democratic process.

    Based on the various political analyses of Kenya’s Head of State, he strikes out as a conservative and reserved personality. In this regard, it is extremely important that such recommendations should be presented as feasible strategies that his government can use in order to strengthen its democratic process. Acting on the contrary might be interpreted as to questioning his legitimacy as the Head of State based on the country’s 2007 general election events.

Recommendations
    In order to ensure that this policy is incorporated by the Kenyan government, it is important that the United States reiterates its commitment to support Kenya both democratically and economically. This is extremely important since Kenya is a developing country with a staggering economic growth. Therefore, this shall for both short-term and long-term support in all its development initiatives. On the other hand, America should consider putting a freeze on aid in the event that the leaders do not implement democratic reforms as soon as possible. This shall go a long way into helping the Kenyan government to underscore the need to have a comprehensive democratic policy since it is directly linked to economic development. A lot of emphasis should be placed on the importance of including such principles in the constitution.
    To add to that, the Secretary should express concerns on the deplorable economic conditions to which the Kenyan citizens have been subjected to due to the absence of sound democratic policies.