History of Kenya
Mrs.
Nardi's 9th Grade World History Class
Lenox Memorial High School, Lenox, Massachusetts
Post-Colonial Kenya
From the last hangings in 1958 to the ascension of Kenyatta as President of an independent Kenya in 1963, an intense political struggle would replace the violent one. Starting with Sir Patrick Rension replacing Evelyn Baring as governor of Kenya through Malcolm Macdonald, the last appointed colonial governor, Africans of Kenya pressed for inclusion and suffrage within the political ruling machinery of government as they had all along; however, during these last five years no colonial official could ignore their demands. All of the colonial officials feared the resumption of armed struggle. Starting with the Lyttleton Constitution in 1954 through the Lancaster House constitutional conferences in 1960 and 1962, Africans demanded and, finally, succeeded in their efforts toward inclusion. Even more noteworthy, the newly elected African politicians of the KANU (Kenyan African National Union) refused to take their seats in the Legislative Council until Kenyatta was freed. There could not be independence with Kenyatta still in prison. At last in April of 1961, Kenyatta “the leader to darkness and death” stood in front of the microphones, a bit aged but still vital, whereupon he declared “Father forgive them for they know not what they do…[furthermore reiterating what he had always stood for]…I have never been a violent man. My whole life has been anti-violence. If I am free, I will continue to do so” (Elkins 358).
Kenyatta and Land Allocation
In the end, the uprising in Kenya had been about land and its allocation. Since upper echelons of power remained fundamentally conservative, they reflected the old “constitutional nationalist” power structure of the KAU and were not representative of the disenfranshized landless. Hence, the overriding issue of land remained a source of continued strife and conflict in the economic and political life of Kenya. Kenyatta’s “million-acre scheme” which afforded the settlers leaving Kenya payment at market value for their land left no free land for the landless.
As Wunyabari Maloba stated in Mau Mau and Kenya,
There was
no free land…the million-acre scheme managed to distribute
some land to landless peasants but they, in turn, incurred a debt that
had to be paid back…Key loyalists in goverment, businessmen and
petty bourgeoisie all got some land. (Maloba 164)
More significantly, Maloba notes, “No land was allocated to any peasant suspected of subversive activities which in the circumstances of 1962 referred to those who had participated in the KLFA …[in fact]…the African government …denounced it [Mau Mau]…and rounded up many of its remaining sympathizers” (164). This would be a de facto punishment for the uprising.
December 11, 1963, Independence Day
As the British “Union Jack” descended and the new Jamhuri y Kenya flag was hoisted, Kenyatta emphasized that Kenyans must “forgive and forget the past…” (Elkins 360). With his eyes on the world at large, he had little time or patience for reevaluating the legacy of Mau Mau. In fact, he suppressed dissent forcefully in favor of an artificial unity.
In 1969, Tom Mboya, "the minister of economic planning and development" and, according to Maathai, a likely successor to Kenyatta was assassinated. Mboya was of the Luo community and was proported to have been killed by Kikuyu. Also, it was an election year. When the elections were over, Kenyatta banned the opposition party, KPU (Kenya People's Union) and arrested Oginga Odinga who was a political leader of Luo origin. As Wangari Maathai, the Noble Prize Laureate notes , "This effectively brought an end to the multiparty system in Kenya, a system that would not be revived for another twenty-three years"(Maathai 112).