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Majimbo (the Swahili word for "regions") is a
Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...
term that is commonly used in
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
to refer to the idea of political
devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...
of power to the country's regions. It is alleged by critics, including former vice-president
Oginga Odinga Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga (October 1911 – 20 January 1994) was a Kenyan politician who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence. He served as Kenya's first vice-president, and thereafter as opposition leader. Odinga ...
in his book '' Not Yet Uhuru'', to have been coined by European settlers in Kenya's
White Highlands The White Highlands is an area in the central uplands of Kenya. It was traditionally the homeland of indigenous Central Kenyan communities up to the colonial period, when it became the centre of European settlement in colonial Kenya, and between ...
region, around the time of independence in 1963, who preferred to retain an autonomous, ethnically based governance over the region. It has also been alleged, by some of its critics, that majimbo is a pretext for the type of communal violence that has plagued Kenya's elections especially since the return of multiparty politics. In his autobiography ''Illusions of Power'', G.G Kariuki, a long serving KANU Member of Parliament, goes as far as to allege the existence of a plot to instigate communal violence in Kenya's independence elections by supporters of a Majimbo system of government.


Independence-era

The original plan, as created by Wilfrid Havelock, Michael Blundell, and R. S. Alexander, would have resulted in three self-governing regions (Rift Valley, Western and Coast) in Kenya, which would share governance of the country based upon the mandate of the regional governments. This way, the
Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language. It may also refer to: *Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya * Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people *Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cen ...
and
Luo people The Luo are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic-speaking ethnic group native to Nyanza Province, western Kenya and the Mara Region of northern Tanzania. The Luo are the fourth-largest ethnic group (10.65%) in Kenya, after the Kikuyu people, Kikuyu (1 ...
would each receive their own majority-ethnic governments and would negotiate with each other and with the other region for the creation and execution of any law on the national level. This was assumed as reasonable because of the fear that tribalist politics between the Kikuyu and Luo under a
Westminster system The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...
would have been damaging for the other ethnic minorities in Kenya, including the European settlers and Asian residents. It became a part of the party platform for
Ronald Ngala Ronald Gideon Ngala (1923–1972) was a Kenyan politician who was the leader of the Kenya African Democratic Union political party from its creation in 1960 until its dissolution in 1964. Early career Ngala was born in 1922 at Gotani in Gir ...
's
KADU KADU (90.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed to Hibbing, Minnesota, United States. The station is owned by Heartland Christian Broadcasters, Inc. Translators In addition to the main station, KADU is relayed by an additional tran ...
, which competed in the first post-independence elections against
Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He played a significant role in the ...
's nationalist
Kenya African National Union The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is a Kenyan political party that ruled for nearly 40 years after Kenya's independence from British colonial rule in 1963 until its electoral loss in 2002. It was known as Kenya African Union (KAU) from 19 ...
party. In the Lancaster House constitutional conferences, Ngala's KADU delegation managed to negotiate the adoption of a federal system of governance for Kenya, with 8 autonomous regions based on the country's provinces. However amendments to Kenya's constitution meant by 1970 Kenya had reverted to being a unitary state.


Moi-era and post-Moi usage

At one point during his presidency,
Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the thi ...
is alleged to have favoured the idea of majimbo for the regions. The communal violence allegedly organised by the Youth for Kanu '92 lobby group, which broke out during the 1992 general election, featured rhetoric identifiable with a more violent interpretation of the Majimbo advocating for the mass relocation of Kenyans to their respective tribes' ancestral homelands.http://nigeria.codewit.com/africa/a-history-of-violence-392/kanu-youth-92-kalenjin-warriors-and-mayhem. A History of Violence -KANU Youth'92, Kalenjin Warriors and... However, since the end of his government, he is known to have denounced the idea.


2007 Election

Both the
Orange Democratic Movement The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is a centre-left political party in Kenya. It is the successor of a grassroots people's movement that was formed during the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum campaign. This movement separated in Augus ...
, under
Raila Odinga Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He was the Member of Parliament (Kenya), Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata Constituency from 1992 to 2013 and has ...
, and the ODM-K, under
Kalonzo Musyoka Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka (born 24 December 1953) is a Kenyan politician who was the tenth Vice-President of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. Musyoka served in the government under the late President Daniel arap Moi as the Secretary of Kenya African Nat ...
, had also endorsed a plan of ethnoregional decentralisation, as had the Shirikisho Party, which was part of the Party of National Unity, as part of their platforms for the 2007 Kenyan elections. Under Raila's majimbo plan, which followed the Bomas draft of the proposed constitution of 2004, the nation would be divided into 13 regions, which in turn would be divided into a number of districts. Each district will have an elected government, a budget and a parliament. The central government would be in charge of national institutions like armed forces, universities, national hospitals and highways. The plan, however, became a central point of opposition against Raila's and Musyoka's campaigns for the presidency, as it was seen by the PNU, and as it was seen by the KANU party of Uhuru Kenyatta, as a threat to national unity and the return of ethnic violence to the country.


Controversy over the term

Because of its original usage as a plan for ethnoregional devolution that was promoted by the European settlers as a post-independence fallback bid to retain some political power in a majority-
Black African Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...
country, the later usage of the term as "devolution" has engendered controversy in the press. Indeed, the Bomas draft defines devolution as ''usambazaji wa madaraka'' (literally, "division of self-governance") and in the campaigns for the 2010 constitutional referendum, within which devolution again, featured as part of the draft constitution, the term Majimbo was ignored by the proponents of the draft, in favour of 'Ugatuzi.'


References

{{reflist


External links


"Majimbo Was a Settler Scheme to Balkanise the Nation"


* ttp://www.zibb.com/article/2136922/Odinga+Federo+Promise+Divides+Citizens+opinion "Odinga 'Federo' Promise Divides Citizens"
"Why ODM's Majimbo Propaganda Backfired"

"BOMAS DRAFT CONSTITUTION"
from the Raila Odinga official blog
Bomas draft constitution
Politics of Kenya Federalism by country