Hot in Law, Luke-warm in Reality: Towards an Enabling Environment for Civil Society Organisations in Kenya

This was largely attributed to inadequacies of the legal and regulatory environment, limited access to resources and negative perceptions of the role of CSOs by government and the public in Kenya. [...] Specifically, the network seeks to focus on two key areas for an enabling environment for CSOs: i) the implementation of an enabling regulatory and legal framework for CSOs (consistent with human rights norms for the right to organize, freedom of assembly and freedom of speech), and ii) the existence of inclusive policy processes and facilitative institutions (democratic ownership). [...] – KII-CSO-Respondent, Monday 7 November 2016 Some of the most evident mechanisms that appeared to be employed by government to restrict rights and freedoms of CSOs including Youth & Child Rights organisations included: litigation, invocation of national security, political intimidation, legislation, and limitation of resources available to CSOs and the leveraging of state powers over the registrat. [...] We probed also on the guarantee of the rights of Youth & Child Rights CSOs working with marginalized and vulnerable groups to fair administration of the laws and regulations, equal access to due process and the ability to seek redress. [...] Contention however remained on the power and discretion in the hands of government in terms of selecting who to participate and to determine the modalities for engagement that profoundly impinged on the ability of Youth & Child Rights CSOs to effectively influence policy.