Kenya stands at a crossroads-desperately needing to overcome a crisis in its governance for it’s very survival as a viable nation-state. The glaring symptoms of its crisis range from the spectre of bloody tribal clashes, a looming but uncertain presidential transition to the inability of millions of households to sustain livelihoods.

some people hope the planned constitutional review may go some way into resolving the crisis, and the continuing debate about the constitution has not been wholly drowned by the national despair and despair-generated apathy.

This book is the author’s concerned and well reasoned contribution to this debate. the author starts at the beginning-the imposition on the peoples of Kenya of a colonial state constituted on the basis of imperial-inspired contract law and philosophy. He demonstrates that Kenya has remained shackled to this legal tradition through the years of it’s independence. The highlights of this concise book, a piece of writing packed with incisive thought per square centimetre, are the author’s suggestions about how Kenya can liberate itself from this tradition.

The suggestions are encased in the author’s strikingly fresh theory which marries the notions of “justice as process” and justice as substance”-as a check, as fairness-addressing the plight of the weak and the oppressed. Does the author manage a marriage of liberal and socialist jurisprudence?

His suggestions on how to constitute the offices of law in a anew dispensation will surely excite lively debate.

the author Shermit Lamba, is a jurist who obtained an LL.M degree with distinction from the University of Warwick in the U.K His area of study was Law in Development. He also holds a B.A in Philosophy and a B.Sc in Chemistry from Queen’s University, Canada. HE has been associated with human rights, constitutional reform and pro-democracy movements in Kenya.