20 years of "sweat and blood": lessons from the constitutional review process in Kenya

Abstract

The process of drafting a new Constitution represents somewhat a landmark in the Kenyan political context. The new Constitution, that should substitute the old one, deriving from colonialism and autocracy, has been at the centre of the political debate of Kenya since the ’90s. Its design process has been sparked some of the most important political innovations in Kenyan politics of the last 10 years. The Policy Brief will analyze the steps of the constitutional reform and will try to draw meaningful policy lessons concerning the implication of the reform in enabling institutions to deliver growth and development. Moreover, this analysis is useful in so far as it explores the experience of an emerging democracy undertaking a popular constitutional reform process, a situation that other countries may face in the coming years