The Demise and Rise of Majimbo in Independent Kenya

Abstract

The demise and rise of federalism as a governing system in independent Kenya, normally referred to by the Swahili word majimbo (literally provinces/states), remains a scarcely studied and understood subject in that nation’s first fifty years of independence. This is surprising as the histories of independent Kenya published during the current decade identify issues of federalism and centralism as being fundamental to political discourse and contestation at particular junctures during that half century (Branch, 2013; Hornsby, 2012). Yet the history of majimbo is hardly straightforward. It has been marked by deep divisions among the political elite and ordinary Kenyans. The divisive nature of appeals for majimbo was clearly manifested in the aftermath of the controversial 2007 election. This chapter will explore the seeming paradox of the demise and rise of federalism during post-independent Kenya’s constitutional history.