KEY RISK FACTORS THAT EXACERBATED THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE YOUTH IN THE 2007 POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE IN KENYA
Abstract
The study purpose was to determine the key risk factors that exacerbated the involvement of the youth in the post-election violence 2007 in Kenya. While in all past politically instigated and electoral induced ethnic clashes, the youth were condemned for perpetrating violence as ethnic warriors, what is less acknowledged is the fact that the youth were condemned, and still are the biggest victims and casualties. While many reports conceded that electoral violence was rampant in Kenya, there was little knowledge on the nature and extent of youth involvement in electoral violence beyond the fact that, invariably, the youth were the one social group that was most visibly engaged and used to penetrate and spread violence. The study was guided by the questions; what were the key risk factors that exacerbated the involvement of the youth in the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya. Both primary and secondary data were widely used, including text books, academic journals and newspapers, supplemented with Kenya Government documents. For theoretical underpinnings and actual appreciation of reality, academic materials and interviews with actors were conducted. The study recommended, among other measures, that the Ministry of Education should broaden the curriculum to encourage excellence in non-conventional fields of learning such as dance and gymnastics. Such a curriculum should provide training and policy guidelines on inter-ethnic issues to teachers (who are among the first to interact with youth) and other actors who have an important role in mounding the youths. This is in order to avoid recurrence of political violence in future.
Key terms: Post-election Violence, Electoral Violence, Political Violence, Violence, Youth
CITATION: Muchiri, C. T., Makumi, M., & Ochieng, K. (2022). Key risk factors that exacerbated the involvement of the youth in the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 9 (2), 1057 – 1082.
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