Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0207/02073.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 38KB | 593 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02073}
$Pretitle{256}
$Title{Kenya
Chapter 1C.   Political Participation and Evolution}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Robert Rinehart}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{african
political
government
kikuyu
kenya
mau
council
kanu
asian
european}
$Date{1983}
$Log{Figure 4.*0207301.scf
}
Country:     Kenya
Book:        Kenya, A Country Study
Author:      Robert Rinehart
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 1C.   Political Participation and Evolution

     The protectorate's headquarters, established in Zanzibar in 1895,
remained there in the early 1900s despite efforts by Eliot, the second
commissioner, to have it removed to Mombasa. The protectorate's major
problems were nonetheless on the mainland, and by 1902 Eliot was essentially
operating out of Mombasa. By that time he was calling for a move to Nairobi,
increasingly the center of economic activity after the completion of the
Uganda railroad in 1901 and because of the presence of settlers in the Kenya
Highlands. The Foreign Office refused the request, and not until 1907, two
years after the protectorate had been transferred to the jurisdiction of the
Colonial Office, was the move to Nairobi formally made.

     Settler political interest brought formation of the Colonists'
Association in 1902. In 1903 Lord Delamere, recently arrived in East Africa,
formed the Planters' and Farmers' Association (in 1905 renamed the Colonists'
Association and after 1910 known as the Convention of Associations). This
replaced the earlier body and became the dominant political voice of the
settler community. In 1905 the association called for the creation of a
representative legislative council, which was authorized by the British
government in 1906; at that time the title of the chief administrative officer
of the protectorate was changed to governor. The first council formed in 1907
included eight members-six official representatives and two appointed to
represent the settlers.

     The Asian community, which then outnumbered the Europeans about three to
one, was not represented on the council. To promote their interests, Asians
had formed the Indian Association at Mombasa in 1900 and a similar body in
Nairobi in 1906; the coordinating British East Africa Indian Association was
established in Mombasa in 1907. From 1914 the East Africa Indian National
Congress (later Kenya Indian Congress) acted as the community's most important
political organization.

     In 1907 the Colonial Office pressed the question of Asian representation,
and two years later A.M. Jeevanjee, a successful merchant residing in Mombasa,
was nominated to the council. The protectorate's new governor, Sir Percy
Girouard (1909-12), and his successor, Sir Henry Belfield (1912-17), were
generally unsympathetic toward Asian demands; and when Jeevanjee's term ended
in 1911, no new appointment of an Asian was made. Asians were also denied
representation on local government bodies and were ignored in appointments to
government commissions, such as those concerned with labor and land. Relations
between the European and Asian communities became even more bitter after World
War I, as the Europeans insisted on continued exclusion of Asian settlers from
the White Highlands, restriction of Asian immigration, and residential and
commercial segregation.

     Settler demands for more direct representation and a greater voice in
managing the financial affairs of the protectorate led in 1919 to approval of
the elected Legislative Council, which included 11 Europeans in white
constituencies and two appointed Asian representatives. The following year, in
which the first election was held, the Colonial Office proposed the direct
election of Asians, but the demand of Asian leaders for a common voter roll
instead of the proposed communal voter rolls was not accepted. The two Asian
members of the council resigned, and members of the Asian community generally
boycotted the voting.

     In 1920 the East Africa Protectorate was reorganized as the Kenya Colony
and Protectorate. The protectorate consisted only of the narrow coastal area
formally remaining under the sovereignty of the sultan of Zanzibar. The action
setting apart this area served to consolidate the European settlers' hold on
the crown colony established in the interior (see fig. 4).

     In 1923 the Colonial Office issued the Devonshire White Paper (after the
colonial secretary, the Duke of Devonshire) that had far-reaching implications
for both Europeans and Asians, declaring that the interests of the African
population were paramount and that in any conflict African interests had
precedence. Formally titled Indians in Kenya: Memorandum, the white paper was
published to resolve differences between Europeans and Asians after both
parties had claimed that their intention was to protect the best interests of
the Africans. This gave the Colonial Office an opportunity to use a reference
to the paramountcy of African interests as a way of avoiding a formal
commitment to either the Europeans or the Asians. Although the Devonshire
White Paper made it clear that the country was actually held in trust for the
Africans and, moreover, that the introduction of responsible government, i.e.,
self-government in the hands of the settlers, was unlikely, the White
Highlands remained the preserve of the Europeans.

     The Legislative Council, elected by communal voter rolls, consisted, in
accordance with the recommendations of the white paper, of 11 Europeans, five
Asians, one Arab (another Arab was to be appointed), and one missionary
representative for Africans to be appointed at a later date. A representative
for African interests (preferably a missionary) was also added to the
appointed Executive Council that advised the governor.

     The Asian community reacted vehemently to the white paper and refused to
vote for, or participate in, the Legislative Council. In 1924 Asians withheld
poll-tax payments. This failed as a protest measure, it was claimed, largely
because of Asian disunity, and late in the year Asian representatives agreed
to join the Legislative Council and the Executive Council.

     By 1940 Asians numbered nearly 50,000, more than double the European and
three times the Arab population. Discriminatory practices in town property
holdings had largely disappeared but not those that prohibited Asians from
holding agricultural land in the White Highlands. Moreover, despite their
greater numerical strength, Asian representation at the central administration
level remained unchanged, and European members of town councils everywhere
outnumbered those who were Asian. Frictions within the Asian community
continued to weaken its political effectiveness. In 1932 disagreements led to
formation of the Federation of Asian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of
Eastern Africa, which differed over policy with the East Africa Indian
National Congress, but their efforts nonetheless tended to be complementary.
Differences between Hindus and Muslims in the Asian community also led to the
formation of a separate Muslim Association by the latter.

[See Figure 4.: Kenya Colony and Protectorate, 1920-63]

     The first organized African political activities began in 1919 with the
formation of the Kikuyu Association, whose members included the appointed
headmen and chiefs in the Kiambu area who banded together to oppose government
alienation of land there. The following year the more militant East African
Association was founded in Nairobi under the leadership of Harry Thuku, a
government employee. This predominantly Kikuyu organization spoke out against
compulsory labor recruitment, against increases in the hut tax, and in
particular against the requirement that all adult males carry a kipande
(registration certificate). The Native Registration Ordinance of 1915, enacted
by the Legislative Council, had directed universal adult male registration,
but because of the war, implementation did not occur until 1920. Buttressed
by suppl