TITLE:
Faith-Based Organizations-State Relation and the Democratization Process in Kenya
AUTHORS:
Solomon Owuoche
KEYWORDS:
Faith Based Organizations, Democratization Process, Civil Society Organizations
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.2 No.3,
March
27,
2015
ABSTRACT:
This article examines how Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs)-state relation
influences the democratization process in Kenya. Ideally, the state should be
in the forefront in nurturing the democratization process. However, evidence
suggests that the Kenyan state has for a long time appeared as an unwilling participant
in the democratization process. Instead, the Kenyan state has refused to let go
of the old system of governance associated with restricted political freedoms,
ethnic discrimination, human rights abuse and grand official corruption, among
others. It is the failure by the state to lead from the front that has created
an enabling environment for the participation of FBOs (an element of civil
society) in the democratization process. Ideally FBOs step in to act as a check
and balance against the excesses of the state. It is argued that FBOs-state
relation can be explained in terms of either cooperation or hostility. A major
argument is that the contribution of FBOs to the democratization process is
higher when the relationship between FBOs and the state is hostile. FBOs’
contribution to the democratization process is the lowest when the relationship
between FBOs and the state is cordial (cooperation).