Peter Kagwanja

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Peter Kagwanja
commentator, author
Websitewww.peterkagwanja.com

Peter Kagwanja (born August 8, 1963, in

public intellectual
who has authored many articles and books, including Kenya's Uncertain Democracy: The Electoral Crisis of 2008 London: Routledge (2010).

Early life and education

Peter Kagwanja was born on August 8, 1963, in Kenyanjeru village, Rwathia location of Kangema Division, Murang’a County in central Kenya. His parents moved to

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he obtained a doctorate degree, specializing in history, politics and international law
.

Academic career

Kagwanja started his academic career as a

Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies at the University of Nairobi and the National Defence College
, Kenya.

Pro-democracy activism

In 1991, as Kenya's

Peter Anyang Nyong'o, Paul Muite, James Orengo, Kiraitu Murungi, Willy Mutunga, Githu Muigai, among others. As a university student and later lecturer, Kagwanja published political articles in the Daily Nation, Society, Financial Review and the Nairobi Law Monthly, whose then Editor-in-Chief, Gitobu Imanyara, became an authoritative voice for democratic change. In April 1993, Kagwanja was a founding member University Academic Staff Union (UASU) and Moi University's representative in its National Committee. UASU was the successor to the University Staff Union (USU) that was proscribed in 1979. Following UASU's 1993-1994 nationwide strike by lecturers from Kenya's public universities, Kagwanja was sacked as lecturer in November 1993 together with other UASU leaders, including Korwa Adar (Chairman) and Kilemi Mwiria
(Secretary General).

Intellectual activism

Intense government clampdown on UASU in the universities pushed Kagwanja and other academics deeper into intellectual activism within the aegis of Africa's nascent civil society and think tanks. He became deeply involved in the activities of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), the Historical Association of Kenya and the Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Within these intellectual spaces, Kagwanja contributed to scholarship on political violence, nationalism, identity politics, democracy, globalization and citizenship in Africa.

Research and scholarship

In 1996-2002, Kagwanja was a research associate with the

Human Science Research Council South Africa (HSRC) as Research Director at the Democracy and Governance Programme. He soon after became Executive Director, replacing Professor Adam Habib who moved to the University of Johannesburg
as deputy vice chancellor. He also became the Chief editor of HSRC's flagship publication, including the State of the Nation Series, earlier on edited by Professor Roger Southall, who also served as Executive Director at the Democracy and Governance Programme. Kagwanja also started the Africa in Focus series, a publication of HSRC dedicated to key developments in Africa.

Kagwanja collaborated with other pan-African Intellectuals to found the Africa Policy Institute (API). In 2008, Kagwanja helped establish the Kenya Institute of Governance and served as its Council Member. Kagwanja also served in the advisory board of flagship journals on African affairs, including the Journal of African Elections and

COMESA
) to work on its "War Economy Project" and to formulate its Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Strategy. He was also involved in research and policy dialogues on the Implementation of the UN Global Counter-terrorism Strategy in Africa.

Notable arguments

Youth and generational politics

Kagwanja is better known for his work on youth and generational politics published as a series of articles and book chapters between 2003 and 2007. His research highlights the transformation of the

2008 post-election violence,[3] but Kagwanja argues that in the context of the diffused violence in the post-Moi era, Mungiki had come to refer more to ‘Kikuyu’ youth in the margins of political and economic power than to a known cohesive youth movement with an organizational structure and chain of command.[4] In September 2011, during the confirmation of charges hearings at the Hague-based International criminal Court (ICC), the court's chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, invoked one of Kagwanja's articles to draw a link between Uhuru Kenyatta and the Mungiki.[5] In a press statement on September 29, 2011, Kagwanja dismissed the Prosecutor's use of his research as unethical, predatory and careless.[6]

Kenya's 2008 Crisis: Courts or Chaos?

On January 25, 2008, Kagwanja published a widely read report titled "Breaking Kenya's Impasse: Chaos or Courts?",[7] which called on parties in the 2008 post-election violence to return to the courts to avert the crisis. "What Kenya urgently needs is a chance for its courts to pronounce themselves on the way forward", he said. Kagwanja called on the government and the ruling Party of National Unity (PNU) to consider inviting neutral judges from other commonwealth countries to provide the necessary neutrality and restore the confidence of the parties to the dispute in the courts. Through the mediation efforts of the African Union Panel of Eminent African Personalities chaired by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, rival parties signed the National Accord and Reconciliation Act in April 2008, ending the crisis.[8] In 2010, Kagwanja analyzed the state of Kenya's stability in a co-edited book titled: Kenya's Uncertain Democracy: The Electoral Crisis of 2008,[9] where he argued that although a power-sharing deal between President Mwai Kibaki and Opposition leader, Raila Odinga seemed to be holding, post-bellum Kenya had increasingly become part of the worlds’ growing number of democracies at-risk.

Government adviser

Foreign policy reforms

In 2004-2005, Kagwanja was part of a team of experts working through the Kenyan Mission in

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
that drafted Kenya's first-ever official foreign policy document and strategy and helped establish the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the Ministry. In 2007 and 2008, he helped in inducting newly appointed ambassadors and train the first cadre of young cadets who joined Kenya's expanding diplomatic corps.

Role in the New Constitution

In November 2007, while still in

Montesquieu's doctrine of separation of power between the various arms of government. On devolution, Kagwanja proposed a two-tiered government based on the idea of 'developmental devolution.’ This thinking was largely inspired by Amartya Kumar Sen
’s thesis: development as freedom, that stresses the transfer of resources to devolved structures as a bottom-up strategy of empowering the grassroots.

Building up on an earlier article co-authored with

Majimboism) widely blamed for the tribal violence in parts of the country.[12][13] In January 2010, Kagwanja headed the PNU think tank that provided technical backing to the Government negotiators during the watershed constitutional retreat by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) in the lakeside town of Naivasha. Kenya abandoned the parliamentary system inherited from Britain in 1963 and adopted an American-style pure presidential system of government checked by a two-chamber parliament, a reformed judiciary and a devolved government consisting of 47 counties. On 11 May 2010, after consultation with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, President Kibaki appointed Kagwanja as a Co-director of the Joint National Secretariat of the Grand Coalition Government that manage the campaign for Kenya's new constitution during the August 4, 2010 Referendum. After winning nearly 70% of the popular vote, the Constitution was promulgated on 27 August 2010. This ushered in Kenya's Second Republic
.

Published media

Since 2013, Kagwanja has published a regular column with the

Nation TV
.

Selected works

References

  1. ^ Peter Mwangi Kagwanja, Facing Mount Kenya or Facing Mecca? The Mungiki, ethnic violence and the politics of the Moi succession in Kenya, 1987–2002, African Affairs, Vol.102, No.406, pp. 25-49: http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/406/25
  2. ^ Peter Mwangi Kagwanja, 2006,‘Power to Uhuru’: Youth Identity and Generational Politics in Kenya’s 2002 Elections, frican Affairs, Vol. 105, No.418, pp. 51-75, http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/105/418/51.abstract
  3. ^ International Crisis Group, 2008, "Kenya in Crisis,"Africa Report No.137, 21 February 2008: http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/horn-of-africa/kenya/137-kenya-in-crisis.aspx
  4. ^ Peter Kagwanja, “Courting Genocide: Populism, Ethno-nationalism and the Informalisation of Violence in Kenya's 2008 post-election crisis,” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol.27, No.3, July 2009, pp.365 - 387
  5. ^ "Kenyatta denies any link with Mungiki, says Odinga is politically responsible for violence". www.ijmonitor.org. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  6. ^ "PROF.Kagwanja Press Statement on Icc 29-9-2011 - Documents". documents.mx. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  7. ^ Kagwanja, Peter. "Breaking Kenya's Impasse: Chaos or courts?".
  8. ^ The Office of the AU Panel of Eminent African Personalities. "Back from the Brink: The 2008 Mediation Process and Reforms in Kenya" (PDF).
  9. ISBN 978-0415550420. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  10. ^ Emeka-Mayaka Gekara, “Political strategists behind the scenes,” Daily Nation, February 27, 2010, http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/870314/-/wqmf7az/-/index.html.
  11. ^ "allAfrica.com: Kenya: Deal Or Bad Deal? (Page 2 of 2)". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
  12. ^ Peter Kagwanja & Willy Mutunga. ""Is Majimbo Federalism? Constitutional Debate in a Tribal Shark-Tank," The Nation (Nairobi), 20 May 2001". Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  13. ^ "Peter Kagwanja and Willy Mutunga, is Majimbo Federalism? Constitutional Debate in a Tribal Shark-Tank".
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