The Unrelenting Persistence of Certain Narratives: An Analysis of Changing Policy Narratives about the ASALs in Kenya

Kenya cannot achieve its development targets unless there are appropriate investments in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). Covering two-thirds of the country, the ASALs can make a significant contribution to national development and the failure to integrate them into the national economy is perhaps being the main reason for the failure of national development since independence. Investing in the ASALs is now a constitutional imperative and the institutional foundations for their integration into national development are now in place. What remains to be overcome are the persistent negative narratives that have traditionally held back their development, and for all concerned actors to translate the policy reforms into actual benefits for the ASALs and the country as a whole.