The Power and Limits of Social Movements in Promoting Political and Constitutional Change: the Case of the Ufungamano Initiative in Kenya (1999-2005)
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The power and limits of social movements in promoting political and constitutional change: The case of the Ufungamano Initiative in Kenya (1999-2005) A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in fulfilment of the requirements for award of a degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Jacob Mwathi Mati Thesis supervisor: Professor Michelle Williams Date of Submission: May 23, 2012 ABSTRACT The Kenyan political landscape has, since the 1990‘s, been tumultuous and characterised by multiple political and social struggles centred on embedding a new constitutional order. This thesis is a qualitative case study of the Ufungamano Initiative, a powerful movement involved in these struggles between 1999 and 2005. Emerging in an environment of deep societal divisions and multiple sites of struggle, the Ufungamano Initiative is a remarkable story of how and why previously disjointed and disparate individuals and groups came together in a ‗movement of movements‘ to become a critical contender in Kenyan constitutional reforms. The movement utilised direct citizens‘ actions and was directly in competition with the Moi/KANU state for control of the Constitution Reform Process. This direct competition and challenge, posed a legitimacy crisis on the state led process forcing an autocratic and intolerant regime to capitulate and open up space for democratic engagement of citizens in the Constitution Reform Process. But the Ufungamano Initiative is also a story of the limits of social movements. While holding so much power and promise, movements are limited in their ability to effect fundamental changes in society. Even after substantial gains in challenging the state, the Ufungamano Initiative was vulnerable and agreed to enter a ‗coerced‘ merger with the state-led process in 2001. The merger dissipated the Ufungamano Initiative‘s energy. This study therefore speaks to the power and limits of social movements in effecting fundamental changes in society. Applying a socio-historical approach, the study locates the Ufungamano Initiative within the broader social, economic and political struggles to argue that contemporary constitutional reform struggles in Kenya were, in Polanyi‘s (1944) terms, double movement type of societal counter-movements to protect itself from an avaricious economic and political elites. Engaging the political process model, this thesis analyses seventy in-depth interviews and secondary data to explain the dynamics in the rise, operations, achievements and decline of the Ufungamano Initiative as illustrative of how movements emerge, take on a life of their own and sometimes metamorphose into phenomenal forces of change, or just fizzle out. Keywords: Social Movements. Civil Society. Citizen Participation. Constitutional Reform Struggles. Kenya. ii DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination in any other university. Parts of this thesis appear in a recent (2012) journal article ‗Social movements and socio-political change in Africa: The Ufungamano Initiative and Kenyan constitutional reform struggles (1999-2005)‘ that I published in Voluntas, (2012), 23: 63-84. Jacob Mwathi Mati 23rd day of May 2012 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis is a result of collective labour of many individuals and institutions that I wish to express my appreciation to. The thesis is a culmination of many years of carefully nurtured self- introspection as well as extrospection of my lived experiences. In 1990, a year before I sat for my high school examinations, the government of Kenya was ‗forced‘ by the Bretton Woods Institutions to cut public expenditures in social services. Health and education sectors bore the greatest brunt of this. The subsequent impacts were manifold. Many children dropped out of school. The state no longer afforded health care to its citizens. When I joined Moi University as an undergraduate student in 1993, the militancy of student activism against the ascendancy of neo-liberal economic orthodoxy and bad governance had reached its peak. Politically, Kenya was a society at war with itself as open defiance against the regime of Daniel arap Moi gained momentum. While jargons like the Structural Adjustments Programmes featured in my lectures, I was also living their effects. I naturally began questioning what was happening around me. Years later, as a Master of Arts student, I became increasingly curious to understand the vortex I was living in. It was then that I decided that I needed to understand the motivations and drivers of all the struggles that were happening in Kenya. Isaac Newton once wrote to Robert Hooke, a fellow English philosopher on 15 February 1676: ‗If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.‘ In so many ways, this aptly applies to me in the course of this odyssey, which would never have been easy without the insightful guidance, patience, and critical reviews of my supervisor - Professor Michelle Williams, who has, over the last few years mentored and instilled a sense of focus in me. My daughter, Zawadi Kawira Mwathi Mati and my wife Patricia Katunge Kyungu-Mati: I know you have sacrificed a lot. You have been very understanding even in the face of the loneliness you have had to endure over the last few years. Kawira, those lonely moments because ‗baba is busy working‘ have definitely been long. Hopefully, they are ending and I promise to devote more time to being a dad after this. Thank you for your patience! My parents (Abraham and Celina Mati) you taught me the virtue of fortitude. This has been a great asset in this journey. Thank you for your love. My siblings – Kariungi, Cianthimbu, Mubira, Kajogo, Muthoni and Kamene: thank you all for your love and the encouragement. iv My Kenyan colleagues at the Humanities Graduate Centre, Mosoti, Joyce and Beverly: the lunch break discussions kept my spirits alive. I also want to thank the more than 70 participants who generously set aside other tasks to provide insights into a dramatic period in Kenya‘s recent history. Lawrence Apiyo and Mashengu wa Mwachofi you deserve a special thank you for assisting me reach more participants in Nairobi, Kisumu and Taita Taveta. Paddy Onyango (Citizens Coalition for Constitutional Culture) and Daniel Odhiambo (NCCK Resource Centre) thank you for going overboard in assisting me get the archived documents in your organisations. Japheth Njagi, you have been a friend who had to bear with the irritation of my constant wake when you hosted me during the fieldwork for this research. To the Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR) and especially the then Executive Director, Professor Justus Inonda Mwanje, many thanks for granting me the visiting researchers‘ fellowship. The fellowship definitely made my fieldwork far more manageable. Furthermore, the feedback on my presentation of preliminary data at the end of October 2009 greatly aided focus for subsequent interviews. Kerubo Getui, Ijeoma Uche-Ukeke and Eva Wangui, thanks for assisting in some of the transcription of the interviews. Sebastian Njagi, your critical reviews of some of the ideas presented in this study helped sharpen them. Dr. Willy Mutunga, thank you so much for the gift of the book: Constitutional Making from the Middle. It truly was invaluable. I could not have asked for more. Antony Kaminju, thanks for allowing me to raid your rich photographic archives and to use some of the photographs in this thesis. Dr. Thabisani Ndlovu, Ijeoma Uche-Ukeke and Patricia, thanks for making time to proofread last draft of this thesis. My various financial supporters contributed to making this journey financially tenable. Specifically, thanks to the University of the Witwatersrand for the Post Graduate Merit Award and travel grants for academic conferences; The Wits Humanities Graduate Centre for the Post- Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship; The Wits Sociology Department for travel grant; and the Global Labour University for granting me an opportunity as an exchange student at Kassel v University at the very beginning of this research you enabled me develop the theoretical framework and review literature relevant for this study. CODESRIA, thanks for the small grant for thesis writing. None of these people though, bear responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation that this research may contain. That is my responsibility as the sole author. vi DEDICATION To the gallant sons and daughters of Kenya who selflessly watered the tree of constitutional change with intellect, sweat and blood, so that every Kenyan may have a better future. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ viii Chapter One: Introduction and Study