(WEBSITE) KENYA - One Hundred Years of Political History in a Flash

KENYA
One Hundred Years of Political History in a Flash
III. White Man's Country
The colonial period

A.The myth arose and persisted of the productive white farm, suggesting that the wealth of the colony rested on the high productivity of white-owned farms; but in fact the productivity of the white farm rested largely on subsidies to white farmers from funds extracted from black farmers, and on underpayment of black labor. The products of white farms rode on the railways at subsidized prices while transportation for things raised mostly by Africans was left more expensive.

B.The city of Nairobi and areas nearby were developed for white farmers (an overseer class for black labor, often). The city was established where the railroad builders paused while they worked on an elevator to take trains down into the Great Rift Valley. No city had existed there before colonial times.

C.Areas near Lake Victoria (Nyanza, populated by Luo people, sedentary agriculturalists) were treated as "labor reserves" – that is, they were left underdeveloped, with hut tax payable in cash to put squeeze on men to go work for whites, imposing a double burden on the women left behind. The myth was that low wages to Africans were good for them. They didn't need more, because they were supported by the produce of their farms at home. They were underemployed and lazy at home, so teaching them habits of hard work was good. And they worked for “target wages” (bride-price was the usual argument), so if you paid them more, they just quit sooner and went home to “buy a new bride,” getting less learning of good habits.

Luo homestead, Lake Victoria in background
Photo by Peck

D.Maasai areas were divided by the railroad. Since it was thought intolerable by whites that the Maasai should be on both sides of the railroad, and therefore have to cross back and forth over an area seen as largely for the whites, the Maasai were moved to just one side, losing (to whites who wanted it as ranches) the land on the other side. They are the group which lost to white colonists the largest amount of land, although other groups seem to resent the loss of land more and are later more active in trying to regain it. In 2004, however, a lease extracted from the Maasai in colonial times expired, and Maasai demonstrated to evict white farmers and take the land back for themselves. The Kenyan government refused to do so. [see BBC story here]

E.The governing principle of the colony rested on racial hierarchy, from "Europeans" at the top through gradations of skin color (Arabs, Indians) down to Africans at the bottom of the heap – with laws and privileges depending on race. Hence, numbers of Swahili (of mixed Arabic and African blood, but treated as Africans) declined as all who could manage it passed themselves off as pure-blooded Arabs, getting more privileges in the process. (The process was reversed at Kenyan independence, when it paid to represent yourself as African rather than as Arab.)

F.The infrastructure was (mis)developed – aimed to promote export, not to link with other African countries, and not even to produce an integrated internal economy. In common with almost all African colonies, railroads went only from interior of country to the port, to carry (largely raw-material) exports out of the country and (largely manufactured goods) imports back in. There was little linking of one part of the country with another for a better internal economy.

G.Politics was restricted to whites; blacks organized and agitated but were largely ignored as legitimate participants, though sometimes whites were appointed to protect African interests.