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Paper short abstract:

Kenya has experienced a continuous change in Muslim political dissent.This complexities in anti government rebellion has been anchored on Somali pan nationalism and the historical consciousness among Muslims in coastal Kenya to have their own sovereign state.This dissent undermine Kenyan security.

Paper long abstract:

Kenya has had an evolving complexity of Muslim political dissent since the achievement of independence in 1963.The evolution begins with the concept of Somali trans nationalism in which the Somali who inhabit the north eastern region of Kenya perceived independence as a process through which they are incorporated into the greater Somalia republic. The Muslim in coastal Kenya saw independence as medium of self-determination in which they could found their own Muslim republic in the coastal region. This nationalist and self-determination ideology of the Muslim societies have led to evolution of antigovernment violent groups that use Islam as a platform to fight for state recognition in Kenya. The Al Shabaab terrorist organization and the MUHURI group are contemporary dissent movements that have undermined democratic governance in Kenya. This paper adopts a historical methodological design to examine the politics of complexities of Muslim dissent in Kenya. The paper brings out the nexus between ideology and the pursuit of self-determination in emerging democracies in eastern Africa. African Muslim societies have resorted to religion and ethnicity to galvanize their agenda of self-determination and state recognition which threaten the survival of state sovereignty.