Covid-19 in Kenya: Global Health, Human Rights and the State in a Time of Pandemic

Covid-19 is a decisive moment for political reform and social progress in Kenya, as in many other African states. The government response to date has mixed scientifically grounded public health interventions, on the one hand, with forthright coercion, on the other. Mass testing, social distancing, and the closure of public facilities, alongside a nationwide curfew, restrictions on movement in and out of, as well as within the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa. These decrees have been implemented by police and state paramilitaries using massive, indiscriminate and, in some cases, lethal force. Quarantine, imposed on new arrivals from abroad, has also been used as an ad hoc form of punishment for curfew violations. Restrictions have had a disproportionately severe economic impact on residents of already marginalized communities, unable to travel to work or procure adequate food for themselves and their dependents.

The crisis is testing the durability of Kenya's constitution of 2010 which re-established the republic as a democratic polity based on the rule of law and is taken as model for reform across Africa. The fruit of popular consultation, the constitution broke with decades of colonial and post-colonial authoritarianism and social exclusion. It embeds Kenya in the international human rights order, guaranteeing civil and social rights, and making them enforceable by individual citizens and civil society groups. These gains are far from secure, however. The dominance of a law and order mentality at all levels of government, routine deployment of unchecked police violence, corruption, and a reluctance to abide by court orders have persisted well beyond 2010.

The project asks whether the pandemic emergency has intensified these tendencies, or whether the new constitutional order will prove to be resilient. The research will take social rights implicated by the crisis (eg. health and access to food) as seriously as civil rights (eg. life and liberty), building on accepted international law that both are interdependent and ultimately indivisible. Consonant with the constitutional value of participation, it will work with community groups, policy makers, and civil society organizations to enable lessons to be learnt from the crisis on strengthening democratic and inclusive institutions and practices. The research will generate a legal and political record of the period by analysing and contextualizing legislative and judicial developments, and through qualitative and participatory research with affected citizens, officials, and professionals working in heath, law and nutrition.

The project privileges a reciprocal process of exchange and learning, with grassroots insights informing legal doctrinal work on the one hand, and the human rights capacity of communities being developed by engagement with scholars and practitioners, on the other. It will generate academic outputs in high quality law, political science and public health journals. A documentary film, co-produced with community journalists will create an accessible, widely shared record of experiences and attitudes to the crisis at different levels of Kenyan society. Through a responsive communication and engagement strategy, including dedicated briefings and webinars, it will disseminate findings to project partners and other key stakeholders enabling them to intervene in a robust and timely fashion to shape the political and legal landscape during and after COVID-19 in ways that favour human rights and human welfare.