APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 76 76 AFRICA PEACE AND CONFLICT JOURNAL DEEP ROOTS OF MODERN KENYAN POLITICS Kenya’s economy experienced rapid expansion under Kenyatta and under his successor, Moi, who would hold power from 1978 to 1990. In the 1980s and 1990s, Kenyans’ advocacy for multiparty political expression was met with repression by the KANU government, including targeting of university students, who were thought to be sympathetic toward ‘dissident’ politicians and university lecturers agitating for reforms in governance. Issues of justice and democracy, inadequate security structures, and academic freedom fueled student unrest in the late 1980s.8 Kenyan students had long been actively manipulated by political elites pursuing power. In 1986 the KANU government became concerned when rumors began circulating about secret movements—such as Mwakenya, the Kenya Revolutionary Movement, and the Kenya Patriotic Front—seeking its overthrow. The groups were thought to be driven by university graduates, many of whom were arrested and accused of possessing copies of Pambana and Mpatanishi, a publication the government deemed seditious. In the clamor for multiparty democracy during the 1990s, KANU accused the opposition of recruiting among student organizations in universities and mobilizing them for violent confrontations with government forces.9 During the run up to 2002 presidential and legislative elections, most young voters were optimistic that the opportunity to effect regime change would bring with it proyouth policies leading to their socio-political empowerment. Many had hoped that the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC), if elected, would restore rule of law, institutional independence, and accountability, which KANU had failed to do or had purposely ignored. NARC brought together Raila Odinga of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Kijana Wamalwa of the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD–Kenya), and Mwai Kibaki of the Democratic Party of Kenya in a coalition of convenience to challenge KANU. It represented disgruntled Kenyans looking to put behind them the legacy of patronage, repression, corruption, and underdevelopment. NARC supporters wanted a new government to redistribute land to squatters and solve perennial interethnic violence, especially in the Rift Valley, change the constitutional order to allow for inclusive government, proportional representation, devolution of power, and recognition of minorities. In addition, they hoped a new regime would improve the outlook for youths through employment, business, and capacity development opportunities. The NARC coalition, which put forward Mwai Kibaki as its presidential contender, won the election, ending four decades of KANU rule. Barely two years into the coalition, the LDP raised concerns about violations of the coalition’s memorandum of understanding, which stipulated the power-sharing arrangement between the partners. The LDP eventually left the coalition and formed the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in 2004. The ODM, led by Raila Odinga, merged with KANU and then alleged repression by the NARC administration because of its connections with former president Moi; it accused the NARC of attempting to remove Kalenjin KANU supporters from influential government positions. In 2005, this new opposition alliance successfully 8. Angela Khaminwa and Simon Nyambura, Violence in Kenya’s Public Universities: Reversing the Tide, Building a Culture of Peace and Dialogue (Nairobi, Nairobi Peace Initiative–Africa, 2006), 17–18. 9. Mwaura, ‘Political succession and related conflicts’.