Abstract

After a divisive electoral campaign between the incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga in Kenya, a general election was held on August 8, 2017. Three weeks later, in an unprecedented move the Kenyan Supreme Court annulled the election due to “irregularities and illegalities“. Despite disagreements on how best to fix the Supreme Court’s concerns after the annulment and the decision to pull out of the election by the opposition leader Raila Odinga, the electoral body organised a repeat election on October 26, 2017. Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner with 38% support from ethnic groups supporting the Jubilee coalition. This was followed by widespread celebrations among Kenyatta’s supporters as well as protests and police brutality from the regions supporting the opposition. The repeat election has been called a sham and the low voter turnout is likely to undermine Uhuru Kenyatta’s credibility.

The panel with three Kenyan academics will discuss the concerns and issues arising from the 2017 general and presidential elections within the context of long history of contested citizenship in Kenya.

Speakers:

Dr Njoki Wamai is a post doctoral researcher at the Centre for Governance and Human Rights(CGHR) at POLIS , University of Cambridge. She has recently completed her PhD as a Gates Cambridge Scholar on everyday politics of intervention after the International Criminal Court(ICC) investigations in Kenya. She was previously a researcher with several think tanks and advocacy organisations in Kenya and is an alumnus of the Africa Leadership Centre(ALC) at Kings College London and the University of Nairobi. She is also a regular commentator on politics in The Daily Nation in Kenya, This is Africa Blog and The Conversation.

Patrick Mutahi is currently a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, Centre for African Studies. He is also a Research Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies, a security policy think tank based in Nairobi. Patrick has widely researched on issues of terrorism, violence, Governance, Politics and published in national newspapers, policy reports and journals.

Kamau Wairuri  is a  researcher  and a political analyst, currently pursuing a PhD in African Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He teaches public policy at Strathmore University in Nairobi and is also a columnist with the Standard on Sunday commenting on Political and Policy issues. He holds an MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Arts degree (Political Science) from the University of Nairobi.