Abstract:
This paper examines the contributions of Asian led-civil
societies domiciled in Nairobi city in the struggle for political and
constitutional reforms in Kenya in the post-independence period.
This paper is anchored on a liberal democratic theoretical
perspective. Liberal democracy as advanced by John Locke,
argues that the natural law guarantees every individual right to
life, liberty and protection of private property. Thus this paper
uses this approach to demonstrate that Asians used civil societies
in Nairobi city to champion for the protection of their natural
rights and that of the other Kenyans. The key objectives of the
paper are to: conceptualize and trace the historiography of civil
societies in the context of Kenya, secondly, to interrogate the
contributions of the Asian-led civil societies domiciled in Nairobi
city in the agitation for political and constitutional reforms in
post-independent Kenya and finally, to examine the role of
Nairobi Asian luminaries in agitation for electoral reforms
between 1997 and 2017. This paper adopts a descriptive survey
design and utilizes both primary and secondary data. Similarly,
the paper utilizes both stratified and purposive sampling
techniques to identify research informants. This paper reveals
that the Asian luminaries used civil societies to champion for
political reforms and constitutional review process in Kenya,
especially in the 1990s. Further, these Asian-led civil societies
acted as the vehicles for litigation of public interest cases with the
major aim of promoting the rule of law, democracy and good
governance.
