The Quest for an Elusive Justice

The Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO) is a coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) working on democracy, governance, legal and human rights issues. It was founded in 1998 and registered as Charitable Trust in 2005. Although, founded by legal and human rights NGOs, CRECO’s membership has evolved over the years. Currently, the coalition brings together CSOs working in different sectors but with a common aim of promoting constitutionalism and good governance in Kenya. CRECO has a total membership of 25 CSOs. Moreover, CRECO advances this mandate through partnership with other like-minded organizations and such civil society networks as Kenya Transitional Justice Network (KTJN), Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ) among others. In December 2010, CRECO undertook an organizational assessment/strategic planning exercise. This culminated into a five year strategic plan with the three core thematic areas:-Civic Engagement; Human Rights and Institutional Capacity Development. CRECO also changed its identity statement, vision, mission and core values as follows respectively; Vision: A just society and Mission: To promote constitutionalism, democratic governance and institutional development. CRECO will deliver this vision and mission through three strategies namely: civic engagement, institutional strengthening and human rights. Finally, in planning and executing its programmes and activities, and in its relations with partners and other players, CRECO will always be guided by the following fundamental values: Integrity, Accountability; Equity and equality; Professionalism, Innovation; Respect for diversity; and, Tolerance.

1. B) CRECO’s WORK TOWARDS CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY

CRECO began its work with country wide civic education targeted at citizens’ participation in the process of reviewing Kenya’s constitution. The climax of this was in the design and implementation of the National Civic Education Program (NCEP I) in the period 2000-2002. NCEP 1 served as a platform for creating a new cadre of leadership in Kenya. The “Moi Must Go!” campaign, an initiative of the program, was a major success. It is attributed to the massive triumph of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) in the 2002 general elections.

 

The NARC Government came to power through a reform agenda and platform which included a promise of delivering a new constitution in 100 days. The promise was never fulfilled due to a number of factors including an attempt to curtail public participation compounded by emerging power wrangles between the National Alliance for Change (NAC) and the Liberal Democratic Party wings of the NARC government in the