Early History

The early history of Kenya began when ancestors of modern day humans roamed the land 4 million years ago.  The first settlers to come to Kenya were the Cushitic people, the Bantu people, and the Nilotic people.  On the coast of Kenya is the Indian Ocean where many Arab settlers had started living in 700AD.  The Arabs influenced the Bantu people by sharing their culture and they got along with them.  The mix between the Arabs and Bantu formed the Swahili culture and language found in Kenya today. 

In 1498, the Portuguese arrived and settled along Kenya’s coast.  This is when Arab authority ended.  When the Portuguese took over, they built the famous Fort Jesus in Mombasa.  In the late 1600s, the Imam of Oman, an Arabic Bantu, defeated the Portuguese and brought Kenya’s coast under Islamic control.

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Fort Jesus in Mombasa

Protectorate of British East Africa (1885-1963)

During the Berlin Conference of 1885, Britain declared control over Kenya and Uganda in the East African Protectorate.  When the Imperial British East Africa Company began to fail, Britain declared a protectorate on Kenya and other countries in 1920, meaning that Kenya is protected diplomatically or militarily by Britain, and in exchange for this, Britain accepts specified obligations like part of their land and money.  Kenya is still, however, a state under international law.  At this time, Kenya was known as the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya.  The colony came to an end in 1963 when independence was agreed with the British. After independence, the former colony became known as just Kenya.  Imperial rule by the British was peaceful.  For the most part, the British left the Kenyan people alone.  Everything was peaceful until the Mau Mau uprising, because the Kenyans did not like British presence and wanted independence. 

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Jomo Kenyatta

In the years prior to the Mau Mau Uprising, discontent with Kenya's status as a British colony was growing, and many people were stepping up to lead a rapidly expanding nationalist movement. At the forefront of the conflict between colony and colonizer was a Kikuyu (Kenya's largest and most powerful ethnic group) named Jomo Kenyatta. By the 1920s, when Kenyatta was about 30, he became involved in the Young Kikuyu Association, only one of many nationalist organizations he would support and build. By 1929 he was also a general secretary in the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) and edited their nationalist newspaper, Muigwithania. The KCA sent him to London in an attempt to stop the British colonizers from repossessing all the Kenyan lands. Though he was unsuccessful, he again returned to England in 1931 and remained there this time for 15 years.

Much like Gandhi, Kenyatta spent his time in the Western world becoming educated and learning skills that he would bring back to Kenya. He studied at the London School of Economics and wrote his book, Facing Mount Kenya, about social and cultural life in Kenya. This groundbreaking book was one of the first about African society that an African nationalist had written describing his own society, from the viewpoint of Africans rather than foreign colonizers.

"If we unite now, each and every one of us, and each tribe to another, we will cause the implementation in this country of that which the European calls democracy. True democracy has no colour distinction. It does not choose between black and white." - Jomo Kenyatta's speech at the KAU meeting on July 26, 1952.

Returning to Kenya after World War II, Kenyatta became the glue that held the aspiring nation together as its divided organizations fought for Kenya’s independence. The president of the Kenya African Union, (KAU) he continued to draw attention to the theft of Kenyan land by colonizers and the inequality of colonial rule. With relatively peaceful marches, eloquently passionate speeches, and other protests, his organization drew more than 100,000 people - more than the entire population of the capital, Nairobi, at the time – from many main rival tribes such as the Masai, Luo, and his own Kikuyu. He encouraged Kenyans to grow as a nation and take advantage of allowances made by the colonial government for the natives to grow cash crops like coffee, which politicians fought over for a long time, rather than darker methods of inspiring change. The entire nation hailed him as a hero. And like all politicians, there were many who agreed with his policies – and many who did not.

Kenyan Nationalists

If Kenyatta is the first name that people associate with Kenya’s nationalist movement, then Oginga Odinga and Tom Mboya are the next. Both were Luo nationalists (the third-largest ethnic group), both were on Kenya’s Legislative Council, and both supported Kenyatta and worked towards his freedom. Interestingly enough, both would also have falling-outs with Kenyatta and his government after Kenya gained independence.

Odinga, above, the elder of the two, was Kenyatta’s second-in-command; when Kenyatta was arrested, Odinga was the next in line to take hold of Kenya’s nationalism. Instead, he worked diligently to free Kenyatta and elected him the president of KANU (Kenyan African National Union) in absentia, while he was in prison. For his loyalty, he was chosen to be vice president when Kenyatta became the first president of Kenya, illustrating his constant role of supporter rather than leader. He would later greatly criticize Kenyatta for his single-party government and corruption.

Mboya, too, backed Kenyatta and struggled to win freedom for the imprisoned nationalist. He was more focused on education and labor laws, his parents being uneducated field workers of the Luo minority. Quickly rising in Kenyan politics, he became the general secretary for the only national labor union in Kenya at only 23. He studied in India as well as at Oxford University in England, and traveled to the USA to negotiate study programs for Kenyan students. Mboya also disapproved of Kenyatta’s corruption and favoritism towards the Kikuyu, but rather than allying with Odinga the two became bitter enemies as Odinga heavily criticized Mboya for his lack of radical fervor for land reallocation.

While these two supported most of Kenyatta’s policies, especially pre-independence, there were other nationalist leaders such as Dedan Kimathi who found his peaceful, moderate methods far too slow to achieve their goals of land reallocation and independence, preferring methods that moved rather more quickly, explosively, and often violently.

Mau Mau Uprising

As its name suggests, the Kikuyu Central Association was made up of many Kikuyu members. Within this group of nationalists, some leaders were evidently more passionate about their nationalist cause than others, and far too impatient to follow Kenyatta’s philosophy of peaceful protest and self-improvement by growing coffee. Instead, a core of Kikuyu leaders – including mastermind Dedan Kimathi – created something known as the Movement, the Unifier, or simply the Mau Mau Uprising. Though the etymology of “Mau Mau” is often debated, one thing is certain – this was not at all a peaceful rebellion, nor was the violence reserved for the white men.

During this uprising, guerrillas targeted Africans who collaborated with the British colonizers. This resulted in massive bloodshed; in one attack, the rebels killed 93 Africans, and up to 1,800 in total. This warfare was largely ignored by the colonial government, however, which only reacted when white-owned farms began to be raided, though only about 100 Europeans were killed. This inspired massive fear in the remaining white population, many of whom fled – prompting a strict response from the military.

 

In 1952, a state of emergency was called in which the government attempted to restore order by cracking down on the Mau Mau. In short, many thousands of Africans were murdered by the Europeans. Official figures estimate that 11,000 guerrillas and 2,000 suspected collaborators were killed, but historians calculate the actual numbers closer to 30,000 dead, including the executed mastermind of the rebellion, Kimathi, and 100,000 arrested, leaving only an eighth of the Mau Mau rebels alive and free by 1955; the rebellion itself was well and truly crushed by 1956. Much abuse and torture was suffered by Kenyans during this time; in 2003, lawyers had compiled over 6,000 depositions from Kenyans suffering all manner of abuse, torture, and other unspeakable acts. New evidence has been unearthed suggesting the death toll in fact registers far above 50,000, a figure that would require the “rewriting of British imperial history,” according to a BBC news broadcast at the time the evidence was presented. The outrage over these atrocities, which, as the broadcast shows, was so great it exists even to this day, merely served to fan the flames of nationalism and give freedom fighters leverage to soon free Kenyatta and, not long after, Kenya itself.

In the words of Barbara Castle, one of the twentieth century Labour Party's most important politicians:

"In the heart of the British Empire there is a police state where the rule of law has broken down, where the murder and torture of Africans by Europeans goes unpunished, and where the authorities pledged to enforce justice regularly connive at its violation."

The Kenyan insurgents began the violence of this movement, but the scale of British response was hardly appropriate and certainly not honest in its motives. Claiming to seek merely the restoration of balance in Kenya, the military violently decimated the rebellion as well as innocent African suspects for crimes against only the white landowners and persecuted Jomo Kenyatta for those crimes as the most popular – and potentially dangerous – leader of Kenyan nationalism, offering him a mockery of a trial and sentencing the sixty-odd year old man to the longest possible term of 7 years. Regardless, he was then held in prison for over 9 years as the leader of a rebellion he did not create, condone, or have any control over.

Political Parties & Power Struggles

Kenya’s post-independence history is riddled with power struggles between the various political parties and organizations that have sprung up through the years, which have proven to be death traps for Kenya’s politicians. These struggles center around KANU, the Kenyan African National Union, which was the dominant organization for about 40 years starting with Kenyatta’s election as president of Kenya.

When Kenyatta was finally released from prison, he had already been elected the president of KANU, which was founded in 1960. This organization was a union of the Kikuyu and Luo peoples’ desire for a strong central government. A rival group called KADU, the Kenyan African Democratic Union, was founded in the same year by a number of smaller African groups, seeking a federal government that would offset the Kikuyu’s numeric advantage. These two parties, the only political ones in Kenya at the time, formed a coalition government in 1962 that dissolved the next year, when KANU carried the elections very successfully and basically obliterated KADU. This resulted in Kenyatta being elected president of Kenya, with Oginga Odinga as his vice president.

 

Odinga’s Fall

The first of the major power struggles was begun with the conflict between KANU and KADU, which ended in the dissolution of KADU – leaving KANU the only political party in Kenya. Disturbed by this undemocratic turn of events, Vice President Odinga was rather vocal about his dissatisfaction and as a result became alienated from his party and in 1966, under the suggestion of KANU’s other co-founder, Mboya, was removed from office by Kenyatta.

Abandoned by his party, Odinga formed the Kenya’s People Union (KPU) in an attempt to rebel against Kenyatta. This failed miserably and resulted in the KPU being banned and Odinga himself arrested for staging riots, spending 15 months in prison. Later, under Daniel arap Moi’s presidency, he was welcomed back to the KANU only to again spread dissent against both Kenyatta’s old government and Moi’s new government, which expressly banned any opposition parties, and he found himself exiled from the party once again.

This time, Odinga formed a party called the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) to attract attention from abroad, successfully pressuring Moi into returning to a multiparty system. Unfortunately, in the elections, dissent within FORD itself divided the voters, and Moi ascended to presidency again. This was the end of Odinga’s career; he died known as Kenya’s “most persecuted politician.”

Mboya’s Fall

Though Mboya had advised Kenyatta to remove Odinga from office, soon he too realized that Kenyatta’s government was not the utopia many once believed it to be. Soon he began to criticize the government’s corruption and pro-Kikuyu, inequal policies. Mysteriously, he was assassinated in 1969 by a Kikuyu who reportedly had close ties to other Kikuyu within Kenyatta’s government. This assassination of the most prominent Luo official, immediately followed by the banning of Odinga’s KPU and his arrest, appeared to many as an anti-Luo movement headed by Kenyatta.

Integrating the Minorities

Perhaps to allay these fears, perhaps for his own reasons, Kenyatta chose Daniel arap Moi, a member of the Kalenjin minority, to be his vice president and successor. Though many Kikuyu wished to replace him with a Kikuyu president when Kenyatta’s health began to fail, current president Mwai Kibaki and ally Charles Njonjo backed him and reunited KANU, again making it a strong organization, this time with a Kalenjin at its head.

Moi and KANU

At first, Moi brought many different ethnic groups into official positions, but he also gradually stilted the government with more Kalenjin officials. KANU controlled the National Assembly in 1982, and used this to officially amend Kenya’s constitution, making it a one-party state. This one party, of course, was the traditionally strong KANU. After an attempted coup by the Luo was put down by the army, Moi consolidated his power by removing most Kikuyu and Luo military officials and replacing them with minority groups. These practices bought Moi’s government the reputation of severe repression of democracy due to its strict ban on opposition, even within the party.

Despite orchestrating the fall of former ally and KANU member Njonjo, Moi’s government stayed strong and virtually unchallenged until pressure from Odinga’s FORD and its connections forced the National Assembly to repeal its ban on opposition parties. In 1992 and 1998, Moi kept the presidency, but member defections led to his defeat in 2002 when Mwai Kibaki ran against him and won. That year Kibaki’s party, the National Rainbow Coalition, also carried parliamentary elections, thoroughly ousting KANU from its accustomed position of power and leading the way to more responsible leadership.

Republic of Kenya

Government
Kenya’s government has undergone multiple changes and modifications since its colonization. Kenya is considered to be a republic or a state in which power is held by the people and their elected representatives. From 1969 to 1982, Kenya considered itself a single-party state, but later in 1991 Kenya was formed into a multi-party state or a system in which multiple political parties have the ability to gain control of government separately or in partnership. Kenya’s government involves a system much like that of the United States; different offices are created to divide responsibility among a vast group of people. Some of these offices consist of the office of President, Vice President, and Attorney General, the National Assembly, Electoral Commission, Public Service, Ministries, Auditing, and Judiciary. Elections in Kenya for these positions are held every 5 years. Currently, Kenya’s presidential position is held by Mwai Kibaki. 


Economy
Kenya’s economy is market based and is the largest in East Africa. Its economy relies on agriculture and service industries related to tourism. Despite its rapid economic growth after its independence, Kenya’s high birth rates have caused its economic performance to fall well below the country's potential. In particular, from 1991 to 1993 Kenya’s economic performance had been the worst since its independence. There was virtually no growth in the GDP and inflation was recorded at an unbelievable one hundred percent. Even with the efforts of the government’s reform programs, the economy only grew by a mere 1.5% between 1997 and 2002. However, in 2010, after great efforts, the economy was recorded to have grown by 5%. However, Kenya’s economy is still in a less than suitable situation. Remittances for the country are estimated to be as high as one billion dollars. Kenya is making efforts to repair its economy. The government is designing a plan to cut down on the rate of unemployment by increasing its manufacturing base of high valued goods. 

            

Military

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The Kenya Defense Forces consists of the Kenyan Army, Kenyan Navy, and the Kenyan Air Force.  Emilio Mwai Kibaki, the current president of the Republic of Kenya, is the commander in chief of all armed forces.  The Kenyan Armed forces include about 63,000 personnel, including the army (55,000), the navy (2,500), the air force (5,000), and MOD headquarters staff (200).  In addition to the armed forces, Kenya employs up to 40,000 police and paramilitary personnel.  Although there is some corruption in the military, it has a good reputation.  It is regularly deploying peace-keeping missions around the world and generally commended for its professionalism.  Kenya also has the Kenyan National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS), similar to the CIA.  This was formed in 1998.  NSIS’s job is to gather and exploit secret information. It identifies potential threats to Kenya's political, economic and social stability. It develops opportunities and strategies to neutralize such threats. The Current NSIS boss is Maj-Gen Michael Gichangi.  

Kenya in the World Today

Foreign Policy
Kenya's foreign policy follows that of India's non-alignment; Kenya does not interfere with other countries unless its own national security were to be at risk, and other than economic interests does not interact much with the outside world. Kenya is a member of the United Nations and the Commonwealth.

As stated on the websites of both the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations in Geneva and Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Kenya’s foreign policy has, since independence been designed and guided by the following basic and universally recognized norms:

• Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states and preservation of national security
• Good neighborliness and peaceful co-existence
• Peaceful settlement of disputes
• Non-interference in the internal affairs of other states
• Non-alignment and national self-interest
• Adherence to the Charters of the UN and OAU/AU

Kenya provides security to its people by seeking peace and stability in the surrounding region, and pursues an open economic policy. Aware of the interconnectedness of the region, Kenya participates in many regional initiatives trying to benefit the trade and investment that has come about as a result of globalization. In fact, 40% of Kenya's exports go to such an initiative, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

Kenya stays out of the affairs of nations not affiliated with it but does pursue active relationships with its neighbors and trade partners, providing assistance to such countries in conflict. For example, Kenya has actually recieved international recognition for its efforts in mediating between Southern Sudan and Somalia according to the IGAD arrangements. (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development)

In world politics, Kenya is involved in global organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, WTO, and other beneficial global organizations. Kenya does not seek isolation, but rather non-alignment and peaceful, non-confrontational relationships with everyone.

Achievements

One of Kenya’s greatest achievements is that it was able to break away from British control and gain its independence. Kenya was able to attain its independence on December 12, 1963. The long, immense struggle of the Kenyan people was well worth the subsequent reward.