The NCIC is a statutory body established under the National Cohesion and Integration Act (Act No.12 of 2008).
The Commission was borne out of the realization that long lasting peace, sustainable development and harmonious coexistence among Kenyans requires deliberate normative, institutional and … read moreattitudinal processes of constructing nationhood, national cohesion and integration.
The Commission draws its existence from the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Agreement signed in Nairobi on 1 February, 2008 by the Government; Party of National Unity (PNU) and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) delegations, and witnessed by H.E. Kofi A. Annan for the Panel of Eminent African Personalities.
This Agreement formed the basis of the National Accord that H.E. President Mwai Kibaki and the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga signed on 28 February, 2008 when the dialogue was officially launched.
The dialogue sought to provide a peaceful solution to the political impasse and violence that had engulfed the country, following the December 2007 Local, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections and had four (4) main agendas:
Agenda No. 1 – Immediate action to stop violence and restore fundamental rights and liberties.
Agenda No. 2 – Immediate measures to address the humanitarian crisis, promote reconciliation, healing and restoration.
Agenda No. 3 – How to overcome the current political crisis.
Agenda No. 4 – Long term measures and solutions (such as constitutional, institutional and legal reforms; land reform; poverty and inequity; unemployment, particularly among the youth; consolidating national cohesion and unity; and transparency, accountability and addressing impunity).
Agenda No. 4 under which the Commission was formed, recognized that long term issues with regard to poverty, inequitable distribution of resources and perceptions of historical injustices and exclusion of segments of the Kenyan society were among the underlying causes of the prevailing social tensions, instability and the cycle of violence recurrent in electoral processes in Kenya.
Discussions under this Agenda item therefore examined and proposed solutions to longstanding issues such as :
Undertaking constitutional, legal and institutional reforms
Tackling poverty and inequality as well as combating regional development imbalances
Tackling unemployment, particularly among the youth
Consolidating national cohesion and unity
Undertaking land reform
Addressing lack of accountability and transparency among leaders and clipping impunity.