Abstract

KABIRA, Nkatha  and  KIBUGI, Robert. Saving the soul of an African constitution: Learning from Kenya's experience with constitutionalism during COVID-19. Afr. hum. rights law j. [online]. 2020, vol.20, n.2, pp.436-461. ISSN 1996-2096.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2020/v20n2a4.

On 27 August 2010 Kenyans celebrated the promulgation of a new Constitution. This Constitution aimed at fundamentally transforming the governance framework through far-reaching institutional, administrative, legal and policy reforms. Ten years later this Constitution was put to the test when the government of Kenya reported the first COVID-19 case. In this article the authors argue that even though Kenya put in place a transformative Constitution intended to consolidate the rule of law, democracy, human rights and governance, the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic questioned the transformative character of the Constitution and exposed inherent contradictions embodied in the Constitution. The article demonstrates that the Constitution is a double-edged sword, a site of tension and contradiction, on the one hand, and a site of hope and transformation, on the other.

Keywords : Constitution of Kenya 2010; COVID-19 pandemic; rule of law; human rights.

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