Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
caused international and direct foreign aid programs to reduce grants,
and tourist spending declined. President Moi proclaimed an election in
December 1997. Again, the opposition could not unite, and Moi won 40%
of the votes, well ahead of his four rivals. In Parliament KANU won a
narrow majority against nine other parties. 4 To ensure control it invited a
few minor parties into its coalition. he problem he faced, and one present
still, is that parties are based on tribes, resulting in great fragmentation.
There are 150 different parties. As might be expected, environmental pro-
tection has low priority.
In 2002 the opposition parties formed the National Rainbow Coalition,
nominating Mwai Kibaki for president. He won with 62%. Problems arose
by 2006 when two corruption scandals erupted. Then another one flared
up about money laundering and tax evasion by cabinet members. The 2007
election brought about a further crisis. The official Electoral Commission
declared Kibaki was reelected, but the vote was rigged in many places.
Supporters of the other candidate, Raila Odinga, rioted, and 1,300 people
died. Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan arbitrated
an agreement to share power, and Parliament amended the Constitution.
As a compromise, a new office of prime minister was created, and Odinga
appointed to it. A new coalition government promised to reform elections,
redistribute land and root out corruption. The 2013 election was hard
fought, but did not result in the extensive bloodshed of four years earlier.
The winner was Uhuru Kenyatta, formerly the deputy prime minister and
the son of the founder, Jomo Kenyatta. Unfortunately, the new president
was facing charges before the International Criminal Court in The Hague
that he had used his family fortune to bankroll death squads during the
riots in the previous election.
After the 2007 election a Power Sharing Agreement had resulted in a
new Constitution approved by the voters in 2010. This provided that the
executive consisted of the president and the prime minister, who jointly
appoint cabinet members from the National Assembly. The cabinet
includes multiple parties according the agreement. The National Assembly
has 210 members elected from single-member districts, plus 12 more nomi-
nated by the various parties. The judiciary consists of a court of appeal, a
high court, and magistrate courts. When fully implemented, the agreement
provides for a second legislative chamber and a supreme court. Dating back
to the British colonial period, Kenya has had a unitary form, but the agree-
ment gave it some federal features. There are seven provinces with a total
of 140 rural districts. The president appoints the district commissioners.
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