Chapter 1
Brief Reflection on the Past - History and
Beginning of the Kenyan Problem
(Where did the rain start biting us as Kenyans?)
1.1
Background
History has it that
the colonial rule in Kenya was characterized by punitive economic, social and
political policies. Most outstanding among these policies was racial
discrimination where huge fertile land was alienated for white settlement, and
harsh labor laws were enacted to force the Africans to work at low wages on
settler farms and public works. In addition, African political participation
was confined to local government. The colonially divided Kenya, was in effect
meant to ensure that status quo of milking the African is maintained.
It was against this punitive scenario that the African protest movements
began in earnest from the early 1920s with several political associations being
formed over the years to help the Africans advance their causes. The sticking
issues and which formed the main grievances were: forced labour, low wages,
heavy taxation, continuing land alienation, non representation in government
and racial discrimination. The struggles intensified culminating in the
declaration of state of emergency in 1952 which saw the arrest and detention of
several Kenyan nationalists.
However, the state of emergency intensified political resolve for
independence, forcing the colonial government to come up with constitutional
proposals and under the Lyttleton constitution of 1954, Africans were allowed
to directly elect their representatives to the Legislative Council with
elections being held in 1957 where eight African leaders - Ronald Ngala, Tom
Mboya, Daniel arap Moi, J Mate, Muimi, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Lawrence Oguda
and Masinde Muliro, were elected. These leaders stepped up agitation for
widened representation and independence and after considerable discussion, it
was decided that a mass organization to mobilize the people for the final
assault on colonialism be formed, hence the birth of Kenya African National Union, (KANU) registered on 11 June 1960, as
a mass political society.
1.2
The Ethnic Regions and Administration
However, as the success of the political freedom fight became evident,
the colonialists were at it again. They told leaders from some communities that
they would be dominated by the larger ethnic groups, and on June 25, 1960 these
leaders formed the Kenya African
Democratic Union (KADU) to cater for “their needs”.
The formation of the
two major political parties divided the country into tribal enclaves of KANU
and KADU area as the colonialists wanted, giving birth to what we now have as
the eight ethnically divided provinces in Kenya today – See Map of current
political boundaries. (Central)
Kikuyu, (Coast) Miji Kenda, (Eastern) Meru, Embu, Kamba, (Nyanza) Luo, Kissi, Kuria, (Rift Valley) KAMATUSA, (North Eastern) Somali (Western) Luhyia.
The existing ethnic enclaves which were called provinces but now
sub-divided into counties therefore, is the problem and were created by the
colonialists to divide Kenyans along ethnic lines and set region against
region, tribe against tribe and even brother against brother so as to allow
white settlers continue to exploit Africans. If further, subdivided as proposed
by our current political class, it is a real recipe for societal
disintegration, with the underlying psychological “brainwashing” that ours is
superior to all else.
1.3
Kenya Heading to the Ditch
It is known that Subsequent governments, opposition parties and
political class after independence, have yet to come to terms with the sticky
inequality in the country caused by this ethnic division simply because they
benefit immensely from it. And since the Mzungu came to Kenya carrying the gun
in one hand and the bible in the other and ensured that they got the best from
the congregation, the amazing thing is that our religious leaders have
perpetuated the ethnic division by ensuring that Bishops and Imams are posted
only in the regions where they come from and are engaged in grand corruption (analyse
the Bishops of the Kenyan Catholic and Anglican Church to see the trend).
After retirements, these Bishops and Imams join tribal groupings as if God
belongs to their tribes forgetting that they were supposed to take care of the
congregation consisting of all tribes and colour.
Since the current political class become the new “colonialist/landlords”. They, together with their of-springs and
friends have dominated all the major political parties today and using the same
tactics employed by the colonialists of dividing the country into ethnically
based administrative areas for exploitation. The so called 47 counties are just
but delineation of people along ethnic lines so that a privileged few, can
continue to exploit them at local level and this was planned in July 2009 when
the government posted Senior Deputy PCs to take care of certain ethnic blocks
in readiness for further subdivision of Provinces into smaller ethnic enclaves.
However, when this plan failed, the constitution was changed to have 47
counties divided along ethnic lines to be governed by 47 tribal Governors as
opposed to 8 Governors in 8 regions with each region having all members of
parliament being members of the Regional Assemblies.
The historical injustices meted against the people since independence by
those in positions of authority include inequitable resource distribution,
skewed development pattern, employment to state jobs of those from only certain
regions just because one of their own is the President, not to mention blatant
looting in state corporations and departments. This is a pointer to what the so
called leaders think of you Kenyan no mater what tribe you are. Whereas this is
a clear recipe for total societal disintegration and is akin to attempting to
put off fire using liquefied petroleum, those in positions of authority do not
care and are only busy looting for the benefit of their families. But a
close look at them, reveals that have no families to talk about since their
children are social misfits.
Indeed the last four decades has seen Kenya headed toward a big ditch
through the practice of tribalism, ineffective administrative arrangements and
decreased competitiveness in many key industries which have led to weaknesses
in critical sectors such as water, education, food, health, housing, communication
infrastructure among others. This deficiency has increased our dependence on
international sources of funding which have ended up enriching a few elite in
our society. This has resulted in lowered standards of living, enormous debt,
and great difficulty in feeding ourselves, let alone educating and giving
health services to our children. This scenario makes Kenya as a nation fulfil
the old Chinese proverb that says, “Unless you change direction, you are likely
to arrive at where you are headed”.
All these are happening because the new “landlords” inherited in full, the privileges enjoyed by the whites
and have ensured over the years, that no real change may be achieved, with only
cosmetic ones introduced in piecemeal to appease the masses. The ordinary
freedom fighters and nationalists then, and now, have therefore been
dispossessed of any hope of retribution in the any dispensation save for an
immediate and sustained national revolution starting with defining the
vision for Kenya, then developing strategies for realising the vision including
strategies of effectively defining the administrative, governance and
management structures.
The next article I will attempt to define the desired Vision of Kenya and
other operating principles for country.
God Bless Kenya and her people.
Osano Kute
is a Strategy and Leadership Advisor based in Nairobi
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