Memory, Traditionalism and Constitutionalism: Overcoming the Problem of Nation Formation in Kenya

Since the dawn of the second liberation in Kenya, as in most of Africa, in the early 1990s, Kenya has been trying to write a new constitution to replace the independence constitution which was not a product of popular negotiation. Owing to many factors, this process has, as of December 2006, stalled. However, the whole process has revealed the pitfalls inherent in forging a nation out of disparate ethnic groups. In this chapter, I argue that constitution making in Kenya is beset by many problems, not least of which are memory and traditionalism, and the conflation of the individual with community in designing the new constitution. What Kenyan communities remember about their precontact, colonial and postcolonial relationship with authority bears considerable impact on the prospects of not just constitution-making but also nation formation. I argue that the only way forward in the construction of the nationhood is the elevation of the individual in a context of constitutionalism and the undermining of ethnic identities and memories which at the moment dominate the political scene in Kenya.