Kenya and democracy

Kenya’s government, although officially a democracy, is a very weak one. Some important components of democracy are rule of law and horizontal accountability, but according to an article from Human Rights Watch, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/kenya2/Kenya1202-01.htm#P136_23666, these are being undermined in Kenya. During his time in power, the former president Moi wielded a great deal of power over the other two branches of government by awarding things such as government posts and tracts of land, especially, according to some Kenyans, to members of his Kalenjin tribe.

According to Human Rights Watch, although the next president, Mwai Kibaki, was considered a positive change from the corrupt former president, Kenya still maintains a culture of corruption in which the executive branch wields a huge amount of power, often going above the law, without being held accountable to the other branches or to the people in general. This became very clear after the election results of 2007 were contested by the opposition to the incumbent party. Corruption in the government is widespread in Kenya and occurs among government ministers as well as the police force, judiciary, and local authorities. Because of this system of corruption, public resources are misused, and the entire governmental system is undermined. The people lose the power to affect change in the government. Kenya therefore has a very weak democracy.