Legislating Corporate Social Responsibility in Kenya's Extractive Industry: A Case Study of the Mui Coal Mining Project

Abstract

Corporate governance scholarship, so far, has focused on a rather narrow, finance-dominated, agency theory perspective. This has been the case even in defining corporate social responsibility (CSR). Corporate social responsibility has only been justified where it is considered to be financially beneficial to the company. It is on that basis that this article addresses the question of whether such a paradigm is justifiable when applied to developing countries such as Kenya. The article is a case study of CSR in Kenya’s mining industry that is dominated by multinationals. In particular, it focuses on the treatment of stakeholders in the Mui Coal Mining Project in Kitui County, Kenya.