Ekuru Aukot
10 October 2008
opinion
This article offers a critical perspective on the making of the Kenya post-colony using the example of 'The Kenya of the North', a region that has been relegated to the periphery - politically, legally, economically, socially and culturally - in the building of a nation. Using northern Kenya as a case study, the paper asks whether Kenya has ever been inclusive of all its regions and peoples, and whether it has succeeded in building consensus on issues affecting all its citizens, especially in as far as the rule of law, democracy, human rights and their protection are concerned.
THE 'FORMATION OF KENYA' ERA
Kenya became a British protectorate in 1895 and a colony in 1920. The north was important only for securing Kenya's territory and governmental authority. The Northern Frontier District (comprised of Turkana, Marsabit, Moyale, Wajir, Mandera, Ijara, Isiolo and Samburu) was contrasted with the colonial administration's favoured area, the white highlands. Legislation was imposed to control and exploit the people and their region, which colonial officers had already declared to be of no economic value. These laws included the Northern Frontier Province Poll Tax, the Vagrancy Act, the Outlying Districts Act, and the Special Districts (Administration) Act that were only repealed as recently as 1997. Even alien laws such as the India Frontier Crimes Act were tried out in the north.
However, the indigenous inhabitants of the region had little or no sustained contact with the colonial administrator. This could be attributed to their way of life (nomadic pastoralism) or to the region's rough terrain and harsh climate. This meant that northern Kenya did not experience the political impacts of colonialism that are sometimes held to be beneficial. In fact, the people of the north feel no difference between the colony and the post-colony.
The closed district policy and in particular the creation of the NFD excluded northern Kenya. For a time the region was watched for reasons of territorial control, but as soon as colonial rule had been consolidated, even the watching ceased. The north acquired the characteristics of a Siberia in old Russia, where political enemies and civil servants were banished to re-affirm their political allegiance, or to learn how to stay on the right side of the political law.(1)
The sentiments of colonial officials toward northern Kenya were summed up in the view that 'there is only one way to treat the Northern Territories and that is to give them what protection one can under the British flag and, otherwise, to leave them to their own customs... Anything else is certainly uneconomic.'(2) 'Two Kenyas' became evident, as one district officer recalled in his memoirs:
'Kenya, as we used to call it... is divided roughly into two halves, the southern half of which consists of what we call the settled area where the white people had their farms and the agricultural natives and plantations, and the northern area which extends from Lake Rudolf to the Somali border and consists of about a hundred thousand square miles of acacia scrub, laval desert and patches of sand desert, roughly twice the size of England. The administrators in the southern half of Kenya thought we were mad to live there at all...'(3)
The closed districts policy caused the two halves of Kenya to dislike each other. Dislike of the north by the south was founded in fear and prejudice. One district officer recalled:
'The North had a bad name in certain sense; it was regarded by some people like joining the foreign legion and most officers couldn't or didn't want to stand more than eighteen months of it, after that they either got bored or their health gave way because of the heat, or they became nervous, so that was the average period during which an officer stayed in that territory. The result of course was that the Government in Nairobi used to have to send new officers fairly frequently, and very often there were not enough volunteers and so people used to be posted there and it was referred to sometimes as a sort of punishment station where you did your eighteen months and having got that over your name was erased from the list...'(4)
The cumulative effect of these attitudes entrenched the separation of the north from the 'other Kenya'.
THE KENYA POST-COLONY ERA
Successive independent governments failed to unify the post-colony, pursuing differential treatment of regions in the style of the colonial administration. Post-colonial governments continued to neglect northern Kenya or give it minimal consideration. They only saw its relevance during election periods when it (subconsciously, perhaps) sustained the very regimes that distanced it from the rest of the country. The following are illustrations of the shortcomings of post-colonial administrations.
A) UNDEMOCRATIC PARLIAMENT AT INDEPENDENCE
The post-colony parliament was not sufficiently representative. In the immediate aftermath of independence, those attempting to represent a constituency or sections of the population that had been relegated or ignored faced serious consequences. This is demonstrated by the political assassinations of Pio Gama Pinto in 1965 (who was perceived to represent the Asians), J.M. Kariuki in 1975 (who, despite coming from the populous and ruling Kikuyu elite, represented wider principles of inclusion and advocated for the interests of the disadvantaged), and Tom Mboya in 1969 (popular as a nationalist and unionist). Democratic representation was seen as undermining state leadership. The early post-colonial era defined Kenya's political path, which was followed until the last decade of the 20th century when section 2(1) of the 1963 independence constitution was repealed to pave the way for multi-party democracy in Kenya.
B) RETENTION OF THE COLONIAL LEGACY
This was apparent at two levels. The first was the retention of the colonial structures of government, represented by the unelected provincial/district administration, which was answerable only to the executive.(5) The second was the retention of colonial legislation. (Most laws affecting the north prior to independence were called Ordinances. The post-colonial government simply changed the name from 'Ordinances' to 'Acts of Parliament'.) For example, land in Northern Kenya is even now conceptualised around legal notions of Trust Land, introduced by the colonial administration and accepted by its post-colonial successors.(6) Different land law regimes, such as the Registered Lands Act,(7) applied to the white highlands and other parts of the country. In essence, the law deprived the peoples of northern Kenya from owning the very land on which they were born. Instead, the government held it in trust for them.
C) NEGATIVE ETHNICITY
One notable aspect of post-colonial administrations is the instrumental role played by the tribe. Each president used the tribe for political purposes and to develop his geographical area. Kenyatta used the Kikuyu while Moi used the Kalenjin, and with the Kibaki administration it is back to the Kikuyu. It is tempting to conclude that tribes whose representatives will never be presidents will always be relegated to the backwaters of state affairs. Consequently, multiple nationalisms based on ethnicity have emerged.
D) PARTY POLITICS
Another blunder of the post-colony government was its emphasis on party politics rather than on the development of one Kenya. Moi would often state that only those in a Kenya African National Union (KANU) region or constituency would realise development. However, this was not true, because although election statistics show that northern Kenya supported KANU, it never really received any benefits. So the tribe played a bigger role than the party. The tribe-party axis with respect to leadership effectively relegated other ethnicities, including those from the north.
E) UNDERDEVELOPMENT
Development is to all intents and purposes a measure of inclusion. Northern Kenya has the poorest infrastructure in the country, which means that government services cannot be delivered or guaranteed. Moreover, civil servants posted to the region perceive their assignment as punishment. These negative perceptions have over time forced the people of the north to fight social exclusion and prejudice. Even at the earliest inception of the Kenyan state, they were never integrated into the idea of an independent Kenya. They always believed - and by policy were encouraged to believe - that they were different. They are the people at the periphery, the victims of socio-economic and political injustice.
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