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G21 AFRICA - CIVIL SOCIETY AT THE CROSSROADS: BONIFAS ODUOR-OWINGA provides an overview of the role of civic organizations in Kenya and how, in his opinion, they have lost their political bearings.There is no doubt that the civil society sector in Kenya played a significant role in the clamor for multi-party democracy in the early 1990s. Opposition against the runaway corruption and inept governance that had entrenched state torture and human rights violations, poverty and political monotheism in Kenya was led by a constellation of professional groups like the Law Society of Kenya, religious groups like NCCK and the Catholic church, student unions, NGOs and a sprinkling of lobby groups, then pushing for political pluralism and democratization. Civil society also produced the intellectual powerhouse in the reform agenda. The success of these activities was realized in 1991 when Kenya became a multi-party democracy.
In 2002, civil society groups helped front a robust civil society program of mass civic education, mobilization of support and active lobbying that pushed the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) to a staggering victory in the December 2002 general elections over the incumbent regime. During the transition, the sector lost some of its leaders to political parties and the state bureaucracy. There has also been a usurpation of its agenda by the government and many civil society organizations are thus having trouble defining a role and a mandate for themselves in relation to the NARC administration.
The sector is undergoing a post transition crisis and it is a dim season as civil society groups, particularly governance and advocacy organizations, show a fractured and disjointed response to fundamental constitutional issues. The sector's efforts at consolidating the gains of democracy will not work if for every organization agitating for reforms, there is a corresponding organization working on the opposite.
This kind of disjointed response from civil society organizations was very clear during the campaign for the constitutional referendum in 2005. The church has provided the best example of what some scholars have called "statisation" through co-operation or part of "instruments of the state". Since 2003, the NCCK and the Catholic Church have constantly broken ranks with reform-minded civil society organizations and supported the Government of National Unity, which has clearly veered off the reform agenda.
Last year during the referendum campaigns, the NCCK and the Catholic Church declined to take a stand publicly on the Wako Draft and argued that their flocks should decide on which side to support. In the recent calls for minimum reforms before the 2007 general elections, the Central Organization for Trade Unions, the Catholic Church, NCCK, part of Anglican Church and Kenya Human Rights Commission are rallying around NARC-Kenya, in opposing the minimum reforms and instead calling for comprehensive constitutional reforms.
On the other hand FIDA-Kenya, the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya are rallying around ODM, LDP, Ford-K and part of KANU in supporting the minimum reforms. There seem to be very little dialogue and collaboration within the civil society sector in the country.
It is true that, depending on the circumstances, civil society can work with the state, against the state or around the state. But anybody who has been keen throughout the constitutional review circus since 2003 will agree that there is very little political goodwill from the government to engineer a comprehensive constitutional review within the little time remaining before the 2007 general elections. What is feasible in the current environment is constructive dialogue leading to some agreements on fundamental minimum reforms before the general elections.
The challenge of adaptation on the part of civil society and developing the structures that operate around it, staying the course of pro-people mediation has been a great problem in the country. As times have changed, civil society has not evolved new strategies and techniques for achieving genuine social and political transformation. They have abdicated their role in facilitating dialogue for understanding and transforming the state and its institutions.
The sector is also getting ethnicised, thus undermining its solidarity as a force of change and making many of its organizations acquire an ethnic character when engaging the state.
There is also the crisis of ideology. Previously many civil society organizations existed largely due to their opposition to the Moi regime. Today, it's no longer clear to some civil society organizations the reason for their being, yet issues of reform, poverty corruption, accountability, transparency and human rights remain.
It is clear that transition poses a number of serious challenges for civil society organizations, but these organizations must realize that their work is necessarily political. It involves taking clear positions and working to consciously achieve change that will impact on the lives of people they claim to represent.
The sector risks becoming irrelevant in the post-transition political dispensation and its ability to help deepen democratic governance, sustain change through constant pressure on the state and put democracy beyond reversal is becoming more and more questionable. To continue playing their rightful role in the post-transition period, civil society organizations must regain their autonomy, redefine their relationship with the state, broaden the base of their memberships and create strategic synergies to push forward the reform agenda but also to make government accountable to the people of Kenya.
© 2006, GENERATOR 21.
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