MST-School of Humanities and Social Sciences

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This collections contains bibliographic information and abstracts of Master theses and dissertation in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences held in Kenyatta University Library

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Browsing MST-School of Humanities and Social Sciences by Subject "1992 – 2017"

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    Ethnic Relations and Peacebuilding Amongst Communities in Nakuru County, 1992 – 2017
    (kenyatta university, 2023) Wamae, Samwel Macharia; Felistus Kinyanjui
    The political dynamics brought political realignments heightening tensions that culminated in ethnic violence within the area in the period 1992, 1997, 2007/8. The Post-Election Violence (PEV) of 2008 was the deadliest resulting to over 1,200 deaths and 350,000 displacements in the entire country. The study was guided by the following objectives; to review the ethnic relations among communities living in Njoro Sub County of Nakuru County; to examine the ethnic violence among communities living in area; and to evaluate the initiatives in peace building and social cohesion among communities. The study is anchored on the Protracted Social Conflict (PSC) theory by Azar. Literature was thematically reviewed in the study. The researcher used descriptive survey targeting members of the community, elders, County administrators, religious leaders and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) that were selected using multi-stage sampling techniques to attain a sample of 185 respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the household heads in the communities while interview schedules gathered information from the Key Informant (KIs). Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The study findings revealed that communities living in Njoro are highly ethnic as in terms of use of different languages, interests and associations, ethnic geographic boundaries, cultural heritage and practices as well as ethnic political regrouping. Njoro was found to have frequent conflicts due to land, livestock and political differences leading to organized gangs destroying property, killing and maiming subjecting victims to psychological trauma, interrupting the education for children and mass displacement from the ethnic animosity. Various peace building and social cohesion initiatives in Njoro namely the constitution reviews, peace accords as well as the involvement of NGOs and establishment of commissions were considered to be effective. The study recommends that political leaders should stop dividing communities based on their ethnic orientation and community members should be sensitized on the benefits of peaceful coexistence with each other regardless of their ethnic background. All agencies of peace building should be encouraged to spear head effective peace building activities. Local administrators have the capability to enforce the law and retain normalcy in case of ethnic conflict before it can result in violence that can lead to destruction of property or loss of life.