Challenging the political order: the politics of presidential succession in Kenya. In Bahemuka and Brockington (edited) east Africa in transition, images, identities and institutions.

Abstract

This paper analyses the politics of presidential succession that occupied the time resources and energy of the political class since the opening up of the political space in the late 1980s and earlyb1990s. The paper has three major arguments. First it argues that the changes that were sought constituted a major challenge to the established political order as it sought to dislodge those in power and to make the government responsive to the citizens. This was being done in a context in which political leaders consider it illegal to challenge those in authority. Secondly the paper argues that those challenging the political order by seeking the presidency faced an uphill task precisely because they were up against a well-established political machine in the name of the Kenya Africa National Union (KANU). Finally the paper argues that the politics surrounding presidential succession gravitated around two major interests, namely ethnic and class interests.