The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) was formally established after a Presidential Statement issued on 14th November 1996, followed by the Gazette Notice of 9th May 1997. This year, therefore, the Institute is celebrating its silver jubilee since its foundation. The event is planned for 9th May 2022.
The idea to establish KIPPRA can be traced to the report of the Presidential Commission on Employment, 1991, which stated that “many developing countries, including those now classified as newly industrializing economies, had such mechanisms under such names as national research institutes, think-tanks, advisory councils, etc. There was therefore no shortage of experience and examples from which to draw. Such an institution in Kenya, which should be autonomous though with intimate working relations with the Government and private sector organizations, should also be used to promote continuous economic and social research, such that the country might anticipate emerging problems rather than merely reacting to them”.
The commission recommended establishment of such a mechanism, with the suggested name of Kenya Institute for Economic and Social Research, under an Act of Parliament. This recommendation was supported by participants at a Capacity Building Workshop in September 1991 and endorsed in Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1992 on Development and Employment in Kenya. The Long-Range Planning Division produced a Draft Proposal for a Centre for Public Policy Analysis in June 1992 and this was used as the basis for a Cabinet Memorandum.
In January 2007, His Excellency the President signed KIPPRA Bill into law and the KIPPRA Act No.15 of 2006 came to effect on 1st February 2007. The Act provides that the Institute is established to develop human and institutional capacities which shall, by undertaking economic forecasting, policy analysis and research, contribute to the formulation of medium and long-term strategic perspective for the economic and social development of Kenya.
