African Studies
Utafiti: Journal of African Perspectives
Call for Papers: Utafiti is inviting you to submit your manuscript – any topic in the humanities - for consideration in the next issues.
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Dominant issues in 2015 were corruption, devolution and insecurity. Spiralling corruption was fuelled by the internal dynamics of the Jubilee Alliance government, and by the devolution of power to 47 new county governments – the latter providing new opportunities and incentives for graft. This crisis was a source of popular frustration and anger. It also further strained relations between the government and the political opposition, prominent civil society organisations and the media. These relations had already been severely tested by ongoing claims that the government was using the threat of insecurity and terrorism to delegitimise criticism, close the political space and undermine the gains of a reformist constitution – from the devolution of power and reform of the judiciary and police service to a new Bill of Rights. Certainly, a number of terrorist attacks were claimed by al-Shabaab, a radical Islamist group based in Somalia, although most now occurred in northern Kenya, rather than in Nairobi or at the Coast. However, while northern Kenya had long been regarded as politically and economically marginal, attempts to open up the northern corridor for the exploitation of new resources – together with incursions by al-Shabaab and the establishment of new county governments – ensured that insecurity in the region now had significant implications, not just for local residents, but for the country and the larger region.