Change must begin with the people

A "wave of change" rolled across the world in 1989 beginning with the Autumn of Change and the fall of the Berlin Wall, events that heralded the collapse of Communism and the end of the Cold War. Nations across the world saw a clamour for more democratic freedoms.

In Kenya, this saw the release of political prisoners and, after a landmark New Year Eve sermon by the Reverend Timothy Njoya, a push for the return to multi-party politics led by religious leaders and later a fledgling political ‘opposition’. The huge promise of the democratic wave, sadly, was not realised. Section 2a of the Constitution was amended, ending the de jure one party State. But deliberate fragmentation of the country into ‘party zones’, rearrangement of constituency borders to affect electoral outcomes, and an explosion of parties appealing to ethnic bases all conspired to turn multi-