Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 2,600 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women's organisations, civil society organisations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful, sharp and thoughtful analyses and make it one of the largest and most innovative and influential web forums for social justice in Africa. 
constitution
Senegal on the rise
‘Ne touche pas à ma constitution!’
Sokari Ekine
2011-06-30, Issue 537
The people of Senegal are out in protest over President Abdoulaye Wade’s efforts to manipulate the country’s constitution, writes Sokari Ekine in this week’s round-up of African uprisings. Ekine also discusses the continuing public sector strikes in Botswana and the creation of an online collective of activists opposed to Equatoguinean President Obiang Nguema’s rule.
Making the constitution of Kenya the constitution for Kenyans
Public interest litigation
Jill Cottrell Ghai
2011-05-09, Issue 528
cc A PWhile the Kenyan courts have some way to go before they achieve the sort of impact that the Indian courts have had, the country’s new constitution should work towards making the courts of Kenya the courts for Kenyans, writes Jill Cottrell Ghai.
Kenya’s constitutional renewal: A post-referendum analysis
Tim Murithi
2010-09-29, Issue 498
cc A GOn 27 August 2010, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya promulgated the country’s new Constitution. This was the culmination of a journey that begun over two decades ago when the first attempt was made to reform the constitutional order that Kenya had inherited from Britain, its former colonial power, in 1963. The draft Constitution was approved in a poll that took place on 4 August 2010, by 68 per cent of those who voted. Tim Murithi outlines what is at stake in the implementation phase.
Stop 'mutilation' of Kenya's constitution
Yash Ghai
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc america.govAs the Kenya Parliamentary Select Committee conducts its review of a revised draft of the country’s constitution, Yash Ghai reminds the committee that its role is to ‘resolve contentious issues’ in the document, not to determine them.
From rights to commons
Jason Hickel
2010-01-21, Issue 466
cc D PlanetWhile the achievement of universal ontological rights in South Africa has been a marvellous step forward, writes Jason Hickel, the paradigm of a rights-based revolution is seriously and fundamentally flawed, and cannot serve the ends that South Africa intends it to. Cautioning that the state can grant people discursively constituted rights with one hand and strip them of the conditions for sustainable life with the other without ever having to confront the contradiction, Hickel says it’s time to reclaim the heritage of the commons.
Rights, the law and religion: Islamic courts in East Africa
Salma Maoulidi
2009-12-23, Issue 463
cc ThiemeAs Muslim leaders across Kenya meet to discuss the status of Kadhi’s (Islamic) courts in the country’s draft constitution, Salma Maoulidi looks at the challenges of securing legal and human rights compliance within a religious framework in Tanzania, where debate has been raging over the introduction of the Kadhi’s courts in the legal and judicial system.
Kenya: Follow the spirit of the law
L. Muthoni Wanyeki
2009-09-24, Issue 449
Kenyans have plenty to be angry about with their parliament, Muthoni Wanyeki writes in Pambazuka News, from the ‘outrageous remuneration’ it has given itself, to ‘its refusal to stand up for justice for the families of the dead and displaced’ during last year’s political crisis. But parliament’s disappointing performance is partly down to ‘the limited options available to the House, as representatives of the people’ when ‘either the Executive or the Judiciary behaves badly,’ Wanyeki argues. If Kenya is to ensure government accountability to the people and ‘real checks and balances among the three arms of government’, constitutional reform is imperative, says Wanyeki.
The future of the Kenyan constitution
Kenyans Eyes From The Diaspora Group
2009-06-11, Issue 437
cc Tom Maruko'It is a practical impossibility to have in place in Kenya a good constitution with the current breed of leaders, because most of them are tainted with corruption and do not have any value for human lives'' Kenyans Eyes From The Diaspora Group has said in an open letter to the Kenyan prime minister and president. The group says that the reason reforms of the country's constitution have taken so long to implement is because those in power fear that amendments would jeopardise their political careers. The letter, which also includes extracts from a draft constitution developed by the group, pleads with the African Union to put in place peacekeeping forces well in advance of Kenyas's 2012 elections.
Zimbabwe on the edge of the precipice
Mary Ndlovu
2008-12-17, Issue 413
With its power-sharing agreement manifestly failing, Zimbabwe is on the brink of collapse, writes Mary Ndlovu. The author argues that in the face of an entrenched kleptocratic elite, life grows ever more difficult for the country’s population, a situation markedly exacerbated by a broader political culture of selfishness undermining the development of any form of effective collective action. Without an internationally sponsored, technocratically based transitional authority to replace ZANU-PF as soon as possible, Zimbabwe may yet be spoken of in the same breath as Somalia and the eastern DR Congo, she concludes.
Invoking Mandela: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Fazila Farouk
2008-07-30, Issue 391
It's just been a few weeks since Nelson Mandela was taken off the United States terrorism watch list. No doubt so that they too could join in the celebrations of this living icon, without the embarrassment of hoisting up a revolutionary....
Zimbabwe CSO's call for a transitional authority
Zimbabwe Civil Society Organizations
2008-07-17, Issue 389
We, civil society organizations acting on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, today reassert our commitment to the struggle for a transition to democracy. Â In doing so, we stand firmly by the principles of democratic constitutionalism that are embodied in the People's Charter and which represent the birthright of every Zimbabwean. Â ...
Transitional justice in sexual and gender-based violence
Makau Mutua
2008-07-14, Issue 388
It is now fashionable in academic and activist circles to speak of transitional justice in normative, inflexible terms that suggest a utopian certainty, writes Makau Mutua. Nothing could be further from the truth. At the outset, we need to understand that transitional justice concepts are experimental – good experiments to be sure – but that they do not offer us tested panacea because they are essentially works in progress. This is not meant to diminish the utility of the concepts or to throw cold water on them as a beachhead for recovering societies with a legacy of traumatic conflict. Rather, it is to recognize their limitation so that we do not stampede to the temple only to find it empty of the goddess of truth.
Access to information as a tool for socio-economic justice
Mukelani Dimba
2008-04-08, Issue 372
In this article Mukelani Dimba shows how freedom of information legislation can be used by citizens to pursue their socio-economic rights. He argues that it creates the conditions in which government decisions about resource allocation can be effectively challenged.
Kenya enters the Liminal Period
Steve Ouma Akoth
2008-04-15, Issue 365
Steve Ouma argues that for the promised social transformation in Kenya to take root, "political class and other parochial interests" have to give way to consensus and truth telling.
Kenya: Violence against women continues
Awino Okech
2008-04-15, Issue 364
On January 5th 2008, after I successfully managed what I will term as a quick escape from Kisumu one of the hardest hit areas (at the time) with the Kenya’s post election crisis; I arrived into a fairly placid Nairobi. The bars were full of people, this in comparison to shut establishments in Kisumu. Middle class Nairobi was mingling as usual!
A response to the Feminist Political Education Project
Grace Kwinjeh
2008-04-17, Issue 363
I was just sent a copy of this statement by the Feminist Political Education Project and must admit to being more than a little bewildered and shocked by what is suggested in light of recent events in Zimbabwe, by sisters whom I know very well – who are part of the Feminist Political Education Project.
Justice for Zimbabwe: A Message of Solidarity
Imani Countess
2008-04-17, Issue 363
On March 29 the people of Zimbabwe cast their votes for President, Parliament, and local representatives. To date, the results of the Presidential election have not been announced, leading to widespread accusations of vote manipulation. Charges of in...
End the Zimbabwe Political Impasse!
Feminist Political Education Project
2008-04-15, Issue 362
We the under-signed Zimbabwean women, in our capacity as THE FEMINIST POLITICAL EDUCATION PROJECT (FePEP), urgently call for an end to the political impasse that our country is in. Over a week after we voted in the harmonized elections, we note with great dismay that the results of the Presidential elections are yet to be released.
Zimbabwe Global Forum condemns handling of elections
Zimbabwe Global Forum
2008-04-08, Issue 360
Statement of the GZF on the situation in Zimbabwe, issued after the Global Teleconference by all the regions present. Zimbabwe Global Forum (GFZ) condemns the actions by the Government of Zimbabwe for thas well as the results
CCJPZ calls for release of election results
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe
2008-04-08, Issue 360
It is now more than a full week since the historic harmonised elections took place on 29 March 2008 but there has been near deafening silence about the outcome of the flagship election,
Zimbabwe should not look to Kenya
Rasna Warah
2008-04-01, Issue 358
Rasna Warah reminds Zimbabweans that Kenya can only be a model of what not to do - the cost in terms of lives, a shattered economy, internally displaced populations, and broken trust is to high a price to pay.
Makoni hijacking struggle
Madhuku Lovemore
2008-03-10, Issue 352
Madhuku Lovemore argues that Simba Makoni is hijacking the Zimbabwean struggle and will only entrench ZANU-PF type politics and suggests that no matter how flawed, Tsvangirai represents the best chance for change.
Zimbabwe NCA condemns barring of EU and Commonwealth observers
National Constitutional Assembly
2008-03-11, Issue 352
The National Constitutional Assembly strongly condemns the arrogance being displayed by the Zimbabwean government and President Robert Mugabe for being at liberty to authorize who will come and observe elections this March.
Kenya: Hanging on to a fragile peace
Pambazuka News Editors
2008-02-28, Issue 349
Pambazuka News spoke with Wangui Wa Goro, a public intellectual, writer, translator and academic and an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Human Rights and Social Justice at London Metropolitan University about the power sharing agreement reached by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga on February 28, 2008. Pambazuka News readers will remember her for her incisive commentary on Kenya pre and post the crisis. We spoke about the implications of the peace-deal on the larger questions of peace and justice, the meaning of democracy itself, the continuing role of Civil Society Organizations and lessons for other African countries.
Kenyan Human Rights Activist Pinpoints Reforms to Resolve Crisis
L. Muthoni Wanyeki
2008-02-12, Issue 344
L. Muthoni Wanyeki, executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, recently spoke to AllAfrica.com about a wide range of aspects of the crisis that erupted over Kenya’s disputed presidential election.
The Long Road to Democracy II
2008-02-12, Issue 344
In a follow up to her pre-election piece on Kenya, Wangui Wa Goro looks at the various ways democratic institutions have been challenged and charts a way forward.
The post-election crisis in Kenya: In search of solutions
Ali A. Mazrui
2008-01-04, Issue 334
The Kenya presidential elections of December 2007 are potentially the most damaging episode to national unity since the assassination of Tom Mboya in July 1969. Both the murder of Tom Mboya and the management of the recent presidential elections are ...
The hard road to democracy
Wangui Wa Goro
2007-12-19, Issue 333
Wangui Wa Goro analyses the role of the Kenyan voter in averting a betrayal of a genuinely democratic platform and of those who suffered and died to make the platform possible.
Kenyan Women's Movement and the Political Process
Juliana Omale-Atemi and Rosemary Okello
2007-12-17, Issue 333
For Juliana Omale-Atemi and Rosemary Okello the electoral landscape mirrors that of the Kenyan society at large, a reason therefore for the struggle of women empowerment to continue after the elections.
Afro-Venezuelans: An open letter to the Venezuelan National Assembly
Jesús "Chucho" GarcÃa
2007-12-11, Issue 332
Jesús "Chucho" GarcÃa calls for a greater recognition of Afro-Venezuelans in the country's constitution.