Despite large portions of land being communally owned in Kenya for centuries, the legal and policy framework on land tenure has, since 1954, focused on private ownership as the best way of managing land. This article assesses the impact that this dominant approach has had on pastoral land uses. Based on the case study of the Northern Rangelands Trust, a registered trust that provides a framework for community involvement in conservation and other livelihood options in the arid and semi-arid parts of northern Kenya, the article looks at the innovations that communities have made to provide legal support for communal land practices. The article argues that the recent land-policy changes heralded by the 2010 Constitution promise greater recognition and support for pastoralism but that, on their own, they are insuffi cient.
In Africa, many countries have adopted technology in the conduct of elections so as to improve efficiency and deter malpractice. However, electoral disputes and violence continue to recur even where elections involve use of technology. This article builds on a case study of Kenya to show the limitations of technology use in elections. We argue that use of election technology does not guarantee the credibility of elections; technology has become a ‘black box’, which competing parties exploit to either play victim or declare themselves winners. The paper concludes that election technology is the new frontier for fraud. The manner in which election technology is procured, deployed and utilized is not only technical but also political. Addressing this political problem is imperative to avoid political violence around elections.
The concept of environmental integration offers a viable paradigm for realisation of sustainability through incorporation of environmental protection considerations in policy and legislation. Pursuing optimal environmental integration between various levels of governance – a concept known as vertical environmental integration (VEI) – is contingent on effective and adequate intergovernmental coordination. Using municipal solid waste management (MSWM) as a reference case, this paper explores the pursuit of VEI through intergovernmental coordination in Kenya. The paper argues that the prospects of entrenching VEI are undermined by inadequate and incongruent intergovernmental coordination mechanisms and strategies as well as by the lack of clarity in distribution of regulatory responsibilities in MSWM between the national and county levels of government. This is despite the adoption of a transformative Constitution in 2010 with a focus on devolution that emphasises coordinated and consultative relationships between the two levels of government. Lessons from South Africa offer prospects for improving intergovernmental coordination to achieve sustainability in MSWM.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.