Dr Julius Kinyeki specialises in Governance and Development, particularly in post-conflict reconstruction and recovery. He graduated with a Ph. The study adopted qualitative research methodology, and primary data were collected since January , continuously and concurrently with data analysis.
The key finding was that ownership of land is identified and perceived as a milestone in the process of post-conflict reconstruction and recovery, and as an avenue for community resilience. However, many IDPs, especially those who were not placed in camps or resettled on farms, but integrated with host communities, developed new emergent norms to support each other. The key recommendations are that government should evaluate the economic loss of every integrated IDP, and that those resettled in government procured farms should be provided with legal ownership documents.
The findings of this study bring to light new knowledge on the theory of social capital. The post-election crisis of January brought Kenya close to collapse.
The abrupt proclamation of Mwai Kibaki, the retired president, as victor in a highly contentious presidential election, led to either planned or spontaneous eruptions of ethnic violence see Kagwanja — The message to the voters was to isolate one tribe Kikuyu against the other forty one tribes in Kenya by voting as a tribal bloc. This demonstrated that though multiparty elections in , and were also conducted along ethnic lines, ethnic polarisation reached fever pitch in the elections.
According to the Waki Commission and Adeagbo — , deep-rooted land disputes, economic and political inequality, impunity, the role of the media, and ethnic animosity played a key role in the post-election violence. At Independence, the country still had adequate levels of economic resources, and the perception of ethnicity was not evident. Politicians conducted politics around national identity, and thus candidates were voted for regardless of ethnicity.
