The Place of Religious Influence in Kenya's Political Leadership

Abstract

The most recent system of democratic governance in Kenya which is a product of the democratization process that culminated in a new constitution in 2010, ushered in a well decentralized system of governance.  The implementation of the current political dispensation began with the general election of 2013 in Kenya. Like in many advanced democracies in today's world, the system involves a large hierarchy of political leaders from the central government to the forty-seven county governments and their governors. Numerous elective positions are involved in this huge hierarchy of political leaders in the two levels of government. Kenya like other African states has her own fair share of problems and challenges pertinent to political leadership, which sometimes, require the intervention of some pressure groups such as religious institutions in order to achieve solution or satisfactory direction for the common good. This paper attempts to show a concise examination of the place of religion in past and present political leadership in Kenya, and to highlight positive contributions and failings of religious influence in the country. Religion has been known to influence leadership in many nations since antiquity, thus in this short presentation, the various complexions which religious influence have assumed and can assume in order to positively or negatively affect political leadership have been discussed.  The paper also integrates comments on the arguments as to whether or not religion, in our time, has the moral authority to interfere with political processes of the country and to what extent in this context.