James Campbell: Democracy in Kenya

Democracy in Kenya by James Campbell
Governments are the most important aspects of a country. The better your country is governed, the better the citizen can live. Some countries are governed by greedy politicians that steal money from people. Why do Politian’s continue to not cooperate and what is the political system? Sometimes the power of the head of the state is limited and he/she just does that “the people” expect him/her to do. Just like the United States, many countries have a constitution that helps them dictate how they live. Some countries have a less effective constitution or a weak one that does give the head of the state a lot of power. In other cases, the constitution is vague enough that men in power can take advantage of it. In most cases the head of the state creates laws and enforces them. This is different from the United States, where congress makes rules and the judicial branch enforces the law. In this essay we will discuss the effectiveness of the Kenyan Government. (2)In the 1980’s the down turn of Kenya began with the infestation of HIV/AIDS. In 1990 life expectancy began to reverse, where many are not expected to live past 53 years and the mortality rate of children five years and younger has risen slightly. Thus providing us with information that shows how the progression of Kenya since 1990 has been failing.
Africa needs help, while we are wasting a lot of money on wasted electricity and food; many Africans don’t even have food to eat of a decent place to sleep in. (3) 70% of Kenyans live in poverty, and in the largest slum in the world most of them live in a 12f by 12 foot shack living off of less than $1.25 a day. Our actions will improve the future, both for us and Africans future. We are the future leaders of the world so when our peers need help, we should try to help out. We don’t know when we are going to need help ourselves also. Although it might be difficult, we just need to take the initiative. We have to see how the government works in order to do any contributions in Kenya.
Kenya won their independence from Great Britain on December 12, 1963, and was first headed by Jomo Kenyatta (“Kenya”). (6) “Jomo himself was an enigma.” As a product of the Church of Scotland mission he was one of the only educated Agĩkũyũ he sought to gain power in “Nairobi city – the colonial seat of power.” With the knowledge of knowing thatpower there would not be ‘limited.’ Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is both head of the state and head of the government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government and the National Assembly. “The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. There was growing concern especially during former presidential Daniel Arap Moi’s tenure that [1978-2002] the executive was increasingly meddling with the affairs of the judiciary” (“Kenya”). (7) He used government money to make profits with italian drugs dealers and many other things. He had “multimillion pound properties in London, New York and South Africa, as well as a 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds.” Here we can see that the president has much of the government power. He has power to do most things he wants to do. This now has changed to a better government. (4)
Recently the government has improved compared to bad elections before 1998. In December 2002, Kenyans held democratic and open elections, most of which were judged free and fair by international observers. (4) The 2002 elections marked an important turning point in Kenya’s democratic evolution in that power was transferred peacefully from the Kenya African Union (KANU), which had ruled the country since independence to the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a coalition of political parties; these show the initial step to changing the corrupt government. Holding free elections is just the way to move towards a democratic government.
In conclusion, we can see that Kenya had moved towards a more democratic form of government. This is extremely good for the citizens now because they can elect their leader, and demand change when needed.

“Kenya.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web.12 Sept. 2011
(1) Wikipedia. "Kenya." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(2) Bliss, Katherine. "Kenya: The Big Picture on Health." Google. 2011 Center for Strategic & International Studies, 12 Aug. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(3)Dr. Mitchell
(4) Bowen, Richard C Bowen C. "Kenya - Government." KENYA. Richard C Bowen, 1 Jan. 1996. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(5)http://www.google.com/search?q=diana+hacker+cite&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADRA_enUS446 28 sep 2011 Does not have citation
(6) Kĩriakũ, Kĩriakũ Wa. "Who Was Jomo Kenyatta?" Kasisi Facing Mt. Kenya. 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 28 Sept. 2011

(7) Rice, Xan. "The Looting of Kenya | World News | The Guardian." Latest News, Sport and Comment from the Guardian | The Guardian. World News, 30 Aug. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.