ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the first 24 constitutional amendments carried out within the first 25 years of Kenya's independence from 1964 to 1989, which effectively put Kenya on the trajectory of constitutional dictatorship. The primary purpose of the Independence Constitution was to assert the sovereignty of the people of Kenya and to transform the colonial state from an instrument of oppression to a democratic state. As Kenya moved towards independence, Kenya African National Union (KANU) developed concurrent plans for full-scale constitutional amendments. Overall, the constitutional developments in Kenya between 1964 and 1969 demonstrated the failure of the new constitutional order to sustain checks and balances and to regulate the exercise of power. Four undemocratic outcomes therefore emerged from the immediate post-independence constitutional developments, namely the blatant contravention the principles of democratic constitutionalism; constitutional de-construction; retardation of constitutional institution-building and value formation; and the wanton destruction of the basic human rights tenets of the Independence Constitution.
