Vincent Suyianka

Human Rights in Constitution of Kenya 2010: Rights Protection Constitution of Kenya 2010 Vincent Suyianka

Kenya gained independence in 1963 after an internecine war between the British Colonial administration and the freedoms fighters. The British occupied Kenya for almost 100 years and in early 1960, the British started negotiating for independence that culminated to the writing of Independent Constitution by a few selected people in London. The Independent Constitution had a bill of right that was modeled in the European Convention on Human Rights of 1951. After independence the independent constitution went through a number of amendments whose net effect was to concentrate power to the executive while emasculating both the legislature and the judiciary. As a consequence there was widespread violation of human rights and Kenyans started agitating for constitutional reforms leading to the historic referendum where Kenyans voted at over 60% for the new constitution in April 2010. This dissertation has done a historical evolution of human rights in Kenyan. A comparison of the bill or rights as contained in the independent constitution and the new constitution has been made.