Tom, Mulisa

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Yonatan Tesfaye Fessha, Unversity of Western Cape, South Africa.LLM Dissertation (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa -- University of Pretoria, 2009.Kenya has embarked on a constitutional making process that is hoped to ensure a transition to
democracy. The Constitution of Kenya Review Act, 2008 provides a legal framework for the making of a new
constitution. This research evaluates the current constitutional making process in Kenya and focuses on
the process undertaken by the coalition government in Kenya and the extent to which the people
of Kenya have been involved in the process.
This study is important because the current coalition government in Kenya is expected to deliver
a constitution before Kenya goes to elections in 2012. It is hoped that this study contributes to
the constitutional making process that is currently underway in Kenya. It emphasis the argument that a people driven process is necessary if governments that have suffered political violence and
instability are to become stable and inclusive.http://www.chr.up.ac.za/Centre for Human RightsLL

UPSpace at the University of Pretoria

Public participation in constitution-making : a critical assessment of the Kenyan experience

Magister Legum - LLMKenya has embarked on a constitutional making process that is hoped to ensure a transition to
democracy. The current constitution making process is not the first of its kind in post
independence Kenya.1 Since the Lancaster House Conference2 that gave Kenya its very first
constitution after independence, constitution making processes have been fraught with
controversies.3 The periods after independence saw the Kenyans glamour for constitutional
change and reforms.4 A number of amendments have been effected to the Kenyan, constitution
since independence. The clamor for constitutional review gradually grew leading to the repeal of
section 2A of the Constitution in 1991 which restored multi-parties.s The pressure from civil
society organizations in 1997 led to the enactment of the Constitution of Kenya Review
Commission Act6 and this was considered as the formal beginning of the Constitutional Review
Process in Kenya.7 The next major constitutional review process came in after the end of the
term of President Daniel Arap Moi in 2002. A review process, commonly known as th

Tom, Mulis

UWC Theses and Dissertations