Majimbo

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Majimbo (literally, "group of regions") is a Swahili term that is commonly used in Kenya to refer to the idea of political devolution of power to the country's regions. It is alleged by critics, including former vice-president Oginga Odinga in his book Not Yet Uhuru, to have been coined by European settlers in Kenya's White Highlands region, around the time of independence in 1963, who preferred to retain an autonomous, ethnically-based governance over the region.

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[edit] Independence-era

The original plan, as created by Wilfred Havelock, Michael Blundell, and R. S. Alexander, would have created three autonomous, 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 and Luo people 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 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's KADU, which competed in the first post-independence elections against Jomo Kenyatta's nationalist Kenya African National Union party.

[edit] Moi-era and post-Moi usage

At one point during his presidency, Daniel arap Moi is alleged to have favoured the idea of majimbo for the regions. However, since the end of his government, he is known to have denounced the idea.

[edit] 2007 Election

Both the Orange Democratic Movement, under Raila Odinga, and the ODM-K, under Kalonzo Musyoka, have also endorsed a plan of ethnoregional decentralization, as has the Shirikisho Party, which is part of the Party of National Unity.

Under Raila's majimbo plan, which follows the Bomas draft of the proposed constitution of 2004, the nation would be divided into 13 regions, which in turn would be comprised of a number of districts. Each district will have an elected government, a budget and a parliament. The central government will be in charge of national institutions like armed forces, universities, national hospitals and highways.

The plan, however, has become a central point of opposition against Raila's and Musyoka's campaigns for the presidency, as it is seen by the PNU, and as it was seen by the KANU government of Kenyatta, as a threat to national unity and the return of ethnic violence to the country.

[edit] 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 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").

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