APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 74 Violence as a Bargaining Tool: The Role of Youths in the 2007 Kenyan Elections Edwin Barasa Mang’eni The role played by youths in 2007–2008 electoral violence in Kenya was in reaction to four decades of political and social deprivation set within a culture of structural violence established and upheld by successive national governments. This environment, constructed for the benefit of a relatively few individuals and groups, fueled simmering animosities and desire for the economic spoils of political control. Solutions to youth violence can be sought in changes aimed at improving long-term relationships, altering attitudes among conflicting parties, and developing socio-economic and political systems that promote inclusivity, equity, recognition, and reconciliation. MOST AFRICAN STATES ATTAINED INDEPENDENCE with the involvement of youths in liberation struggles as leaders and willing participants, but also as conscripts, sometimes forced to fight under the influence of drugs and brainwashing.1 Such scenarios played out several times during the independence struggle and the post-independence era in Kenya, where young people were and continue to be manipulated by political elites for their own expediency. The members of the pro-independence Mau Mau movement were young men and women (led by World War II veterans) who despite their contribution to the independence struggle were later neglected by the dominant political forces that took power from the colonial government in 1963.2 Successive Kenyan governments failed or refused to address the lingering injustices resulting from the colonial legacy. In negotiations to end colonial rule, leaders of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), and the British administration agreed to a post-independence governing system and arrangements 1. Angela McIntyre (ed.), Invisible Stakeholders: Children and War in Africa (Pretoria, Institute for Security Studies, 2005), 1–11. 2. The Mau Mau movement, which started in 1952, sought emancipation from colonial rule and a return of land in the possession white settlers to Africans. The movement died off gradually because of ideological differences with the ruling class soon after independence. Edwin Barasa Mang’eni is a peace and security expert based in Nairobi, Kenya. His areas of interest include youths and violence, small arms and light weapons, conflict early warning, and alternative dispute resolution. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from the University of Nairobi and a master of philosophy in development studies from Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. Africa Peace and Conflict Journal, 3:2 (2010), 74–89. © 2010 University for Peace Africa Programme. All rights reserved. ISSN 1659–3944.