ABSTRACT
This chapter probes the specific conditions that allowed religious institutions and the clergy to seize the struggle from secular civil society and lead the reform movement through the Ufungamano Initiative. Arguably, no other movement in Kenya’s recent history challenged the state with as much success as the Ufungamano Initiative. Several key questions are addressed. What led various social and political forces to unite under the Ufungamano Initiative? What were the specific opportunities that allowed the Ufungamano Initiative to emerge and what new political opportunities did it create and utilise in the course of its activities? What can the emergence of the Ufungamano Initiative tell us about the political opportunities model and collective action? Which new agenda and strategies did the Ufungamano Initiative bring to the constitutional and other socioeconomic and political struggles in Kenya?
