Regime change, police reforms and their implications on human rights practice in Kenya; 1920-2014

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dc.contributor.advisorSusan Mwangien_US
dc.contributor.advisorJoseph Wasongaen_US
dc.contributor.authorNjiri, Nelson Mugweru
dc.date.accessioned2023-08-17T06:39:48Z
dc.date.available2023-08-17T06:39:48Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.descriptionA thesis submitted to the school of law, arts and social sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of doctor of philosophy of Kenyatta University, February, 2023en_US
dc.description.abstractHistorically the police institution has been linked to human rights violations. With the political transformation taking place across the world to change the institutions of governance, reforms in the police institution have been considered in many countries. In Kenya a lot of efforts have been witnessed in an attempt to bring changes in the police institution from independence. However, studies have not adequately addressed the implications of regime change and police reforms on human rights practice in Kenya. This study explored the implications of regime change, police reforms on human rights practice in Kenya from independence. The study’s specific objectives were to examine the emergence and the role of the police force in Kenya from 1920s to 1978, determine the implications of the reforms in the police force on human rights between 1979 and 2002, examine the police reforms during the Kibaki’s administration and their implications on human rights practice up to 2009 and to interrogate the implications of the police reforms enshrined in the 2010 constitution on human rights practice in Kenya up to 2014. A historical design was chosen to guide the study with Lewin’s theory of change, the protest theory and the predictive model chosen as the theoretical underpinning. The specific study groups consisted of the high-ranking serving and retired constabularies, human rights lawyers, members of the community policing, human rights activists and the judiciary, criminal law professors, county government administrators, retired provincial administrators, political detainees and political scientists and former and present politicians in Kenya. Purposive sampling was adopted to select 166 study participants. Data was collected through focused group discussions, document analysis and interview guide. The qualitative data was elaborately analyzed based on the thematic content analysis. The results suggested that successive governments instituted police reforms purposely to adequately equip the police officers to secure the political interest of the political elite. During the Kenyatta administration, several amendments such as the preventive detention act were made but the changes failed to meet the expectation of the Kenyans as acts of human rights violation remained profound. During the Moi administration, there were minimal changes in the police force but increased and unabated human rights violation. The political leadership used the police to consolidate and secure power by infringing on human rights. During the Kibaki administration, instrumental changes in the police force were initiated to bring changes to the police institution. In the 2010 constitutional dispensation new laws were enacted to strengthen the police reforms. However, police brutality, impunity, complicity, extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, corruption and a widening rift between the police officers and the civilians were largely the enduring features of the police institution. The study recommended that reforms should be directed to the legal, economic, electoral and political systems which impact the police operations if meaningful police reforms can be actualized.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipKenyatta Universityen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/26857
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherKenyatta Universityen_US
dc.subjectpolice reformsen_US
dc.subjecthuman rightsen_US
dc.subjectKenyaen_US
dc.titleRegime change, police reforms and their implications on human rights practice in Kenya; 1920-2014en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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