Kenya: Human Rights

Publisher Marketing: Kenya is a republic with an institutionally strong president and a bicameral legislature. The country is undergoing the transfer of significant elements of fiscal and administrative authority from the central government to 47 newly created county governments. In a national referendum in 2010, citizens approved a new constitution that called for significant institutional and structural changes to the government, including the abolition of the post of prime minister and creation of an elected deputy president position, transition to a bicameral national legislature, and the creation of county governments with directly elected governors and county legislatures. The new constitution also created an independent judiciary and a Supreme Court, which were established in 2011. On March 4, citizens voted in the first general election under the new constitution, electing a president and deputy president, parliamentarians including members of the newly established senate, county governors, and representatives to the new county legislatures. International and domestic observers judged the elections to be generally free and credible, although some civil society groups pointed to irregularities and questioned the final results. In the presidential election, Jubilee Coalition candidate Uhuru Kenyatta was proclaimed the winner over second-place candidate Raila Odinga of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). Kenyatta received a majority at 50.07 percent of votes cast as well as more than 25 percent of votes in more than one-half of the 47 counties, meeting the threshold to avoid a constitutionally mandated run-off election. Odinga challenged the results in a March 16 petition to the Supreme Court, citing irregularities in voter registration and technical problems with vote tallying. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on March 30 to uphold the results, and Odinga accepted this verdict. The country remained generally calm following the election, although after the court verdict, violence occurred in the city of Kisumu, an opposition stronghold, during which police reportedly killed five protesters. There were also instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian control. The most serious human rights problems were abuses by the security forces, including unlawful killings, forced disappearances, torture, and use of excessive force; interethnic violence; and widespread corruption and impunity throughout the government.