Constitutional, legal and policy reforms have taken centre stage in Kenya’s politics and governance since 1990. Since then, the country has spent a lot of time, effort and resources in a bid to give the citizens a new constitutional and legal dispensation. Unfortunately, politicians and other interest groups have hijacked the reform process as they have approached the exercise with deep self-interest. Many a times the process has stalled because certain interest groups would only back a new dispensation that gives them an upper hand in elections and governance. One of the reasons that this sad situation has arisen is because successive governments allowed the colonial constitution, laws and policies to remain intact even in the face of new developments. A lot of the issues that are being debated in the search for a new dispensation could actually be addressed through constitutional, legal and policy amendments.

We believe that the process of constitutional, legal and policy reforms should be a continuous process provoked by the needs, and continuously evolving realities of human development. FORD-Asili would put in place a mechanism for continuous constitutional, legal and policy review.