Why implementation of Constitution has been a mirage

The 2010 Constitution was meant to cure decades of entrenched polarisation due to extreme political divisions, entrenched corruption, uneven development, negative ethnicity, impunity and post electoral violence, among many other ills that had bedeviled our country since independence. When we ushered in the new Constitution on August 27, 2010, many Kenyans were hopeful that it would foster an era of greater solidary across many traditional fault lines such as ethnicity, tribalism, rich/poor, religious divides, highlanders versus lowlanders, and center versus peripheral regions or counties.

Indeed, the 2010 Constitution was regarded as an empowering document by Kenyans as it had created awareness among them for their rights and responsibilities as citizens, created a vision for the kind of country they envisaged for themselves and their children’s children. It was also a transformative document in that Kenya had just emerged from a dangerous post-election violence, hence Kenyans were searching for an alternative path for a peaceful and prosperous coexistence among their diverse communities. Finally, Kenyans wanted economic growth, an enabling environment for the realisation of a prosperous Kenya, hence the new Constitution created an alternative vision for them.