Kenya: Jomo Kenyatta

The description of the Republic of Kenya as the hot bed of terror by the famous global broadcaster was a claim that lacked validity in all senses. When the media was called to substantiate their claims, it was evident that theirs was a case of decadence of the ethical work practices and to some extent, an innate desire to gain popularity through negative implication of the Kenyan Republic. Through propagation of the type of information, the media was aiming at attaining a global attention, as the visit of the POTUS was the trending event on the global mass

In this view of the circumstances that existed during history in regards to colonial Africa. I venture to examine how colonialism is viewed, introducing you to a variety of texts which expose you to different views and debates about what Africa may well have been like today, had the colonization never taken place. The African resistance to colonialism put another perspective on the colonization of Africa by the Europeans and the Western influence Africa faced. Each work shows a different facet of the complex experience of colonized peoples and how European domination served to radically alter their lives, both during the era of colonialism and for generations to come.

During this time, Kenyatta was sent to London to represent his party in discussions regarding colonial administration. However, the secretary of the colonies did not recognize him and refused to meet him. While in Britain, he wrote a number of letters including The Times which highlighted some of the key issues of his party and people . The letter included the following; the demand to security of land tenure and return of the land that British settlers had taken, increased education opportunities for Africans, include black Africans representatives in the legislative council, Africans be allowed to practice their traditional customers as well as he repealed the removal of hut and pool taxes that had been enacted by the European settlers. Kenyatta also warned the British authorities that the failure to act would have disastrous results. Having set his agenda to the international community, he returned to Kenya in 1930. However, among the five requests he had submitted to the British colony, only one regarding education opportunities for Africans was satisfied .

Outlined by this quote, that although in terms of times colonialism is a small section of African history, it has left an imprint throughout the continent. This essay will look at how influential colonisation is in contemporary Africa, there are two main groups of scholars who argue how influential colonialism was in Africa the first is outlined by Gann and Duigan and they hold the view that the colonial era was ‘the most decisive for the future of Africa’. The alternative school of thought is held by British scholar A.G. Hopkins, who believed that colonial rule was less influential than first thought and was more an event which speeded up a process which was already underway. To assess how much of an impact colonialism had on

The main goal behind this book is to expose the problems with neo-colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism and how they’ve had a negative effect on Kenya. In order to do this. Ngugi introduces six characters throughout the novel, each

In African contexts, an emphasis was given to the fact that national self-determination meant self-determination of the people against the colonial landlords. The nation didn’t oppose so much another nation as it did the colonial autocratic ruler (xxx, xxx). But what seems more important is the fact that when the colonial power finally realized the need to prepare their colonies for self-government, they did so within the framework established by the colonial state (xxx, xxx). The colonial state thus became equated not only with its physical attributes (territory and population) but also with its bureaucracy, the nervous center from which stemmed ail decisions affecting the country (xxx, xxx).

Colonialism was everywhere, it was a brutal practice, especially in Africa. According to the Oxford Dictionary of International Relations, colonialism is a process of domination of one group (the colonizing metropole or core) over another (a colonized other or periphery). The video ‘The Scramble for Africa’ states that colonization was motivated by the European hunger for Africa resources, the subsequent exploitation of the African people and uprooting of their spiritual values. The colonialism matters for future outcomes is because the act of complete political control over the country, and exploitation of its economy, have created an after affect that formal colonial states are still dealing with it today. The quality of governance in the colonial period has a significant and persistent effect on post-colonial outcomes. There are two type of colonial rule, direct and indirect rule. Between direct and indirect colonial rule, I argue that due to its institutional structure, indirect rule was worse for long-term development, politically and economically.

Throughout human history, there have been multiples leaders that have sought to implement change and bring prosperity to their people and definitely, Kwame Nkrumah is one of them. Indeed, Nkrumah is one of the leading figures in the fight against colonialism not only in Ghana, his country, but also in the continent of Africa itself, and across the world. He sought to challenge the colonial powers and their system of global capitalism by implementing the socialist route once he achieved the independence of Ghana from the British Empire in 1957. Although, Nkrumah was not successful in his plan and after nine years as President of Ghana, he was removed from power, he still played a major role on the development of the Pan-Africanism movement and its huge impact in different parts of the world. To recall, Pan-Africanism is the principle of the political union of all indigenous inhabitants of Africa. In other words, this movement encouraged the African people all over the globe to unite as one and fight for their independence and rights to not be colonized and exploited anymore.

President Daniel arap Moi existed as a member of the Kalenjin tribe. The Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin, and Kamba were the five largest ethnic groups (Crisis in Kenya). President Moi created free milk programs for children in school, liberated all political detainees, and ended land-buying companies that had been hurting small land holders. These good deeds did give Moi popular appeal yet were not enough for him to continue to hold power. This caused Moi to begin to reward loyalty in the country in order to hold his power, which lead to corruption of Kenya. Many officials deemed a multiple array of Moi’s projects not worthy of approval within the government. All of this led to official corruption caused by Moi, which was half of the reason for the rioting in Kenya (Daniel arap Moi 83). Also, there was a large amount of poverty throughout the civilian population. This is proved as it was said that during the chaos many looters stole goods from stores and shops. This chaos was known as the Saba Saba uprising and took place on July 7th, 1990. In Nairobi, Kenya, chaos broke out causing many deaths and protests against the government of Kenya and President Daniel arap Moi. President Moi stated that a multi-party system would create conflict between the ethnic groups of Kenya and threatened many who came to him speaking of pluralism. When the new government or change

December last year marked the 50th anniversary of the independence of Kenya, our beloved nation. It was a moment of merry making as we all cheered and welcomed the golden jubilee from within and without. Celebrations, from national to grass roots level were set on fire to kick-start this great jubilee when the founding fathers of the nation assumed independence from the British colony. As we celebrated the great milestones achieved by the country, we were challenged from all four corners by unmet goals, which still pose a problem to the entire Kenyans. These challenges include illiteracy, unemployment, corruption, insecurity, amongst others. It will not be surprising enough that the list could grow up to the fiftieth mark, just like the same way we are talking of fifty years of independence. Kenya, of course, is not sailing in this boat alone and as an African child; she is accompanied by many other countries in celebration of their independence and problems too. Many countries across the continent gained their independence in, or after, the 1960’s. This came at a cost of fighting (and employing absolute violence) the Europeans even to the point of shedding blood. Freedom was later achieved and the continent became free as the colonizers hanged up their boots.

Kenya has a vast and diverse population all encompassing a rich variety of cultures and subcultures. The Army defines culture as “the learned and shared behaviors and perceptions of a group which have been transmitted from generations to generations through a shared symbol system” (QuinStreet Inc.) Developing a country’s culture happens through many years of subcultures combining into a common belief system ultimately providing an overall culture of the country. The definition of subculture is “a group of people within a larger social structure who share cultural and linguistic characteristics which are different enough to distinguish it from others within the same society.” (QuinStreet Inc.) Kenyans have traveled from all over the world, each contributing to the way the country is today, some are good and some bad. Culture has many different characteristics that define the makeup of it in a region or country. Kenya’s location, history, people, politics, society and struggles have all contributed to this ever-changing culture and people of this nation.

 Kenya is a rich country at Africa, it divided into 47 counties and Nairobi is capital. Kenya’s population is 30 million and more and it has at least 40 different ethnic African groups, it include “Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin tribes, Luo, Kamba, Somali, Kisii, Meru & Embu, Mijikenda, Turkana and Maasai”(ourafrica.org).Kikuyu is largest group of Kenya, representing 22% of population. Kenya had many

It is therefore true to say that the primary concern of most post-colonial African novelists, like Al-Tayyib Salih, Chinua Achebe and others, is to change for better the history of their people which colonialism has taken off or manipulated. The African novel occupies a central position in the criticism of colonial portrayal of the African continent and its people. It grew, in part, from a history of active resistance to the colonial encounter. It has been crossing boundaries and assaulting walls imposed by History upon the horizon of the continent whose aspirations it has been striving to

Kenya was ranked 145 out 187 nations on the Human Development Index. “Kenya has been ranked lowly in a UN global survey on well-being and quality of life beyond annual economic growth rates” (Masha, 2013). According to the Human Development Index, Kenya has been declining on the developmental scale ever since 1980. Most of Kenya’s population lives under extreme poverty which is an average of 30 percent of the country. These facts will show a drastic picture for Kenya and their fight against poverty. Believe it or not, Kenya has one of the highest growing population in the world. “As a result of the booming population growth, the country faces a serious unemployment problem, which the government admits will worsen over the next decade despite its best efforts” (Mwembe, 1989). Unemployment is increasing more every day which unfortunately means poverty is rising. Currently more than half of Kenyans live under the poverty

The 2007 general elections in Kenya was a watershed event in the history of the country. Unprecedented violence broke out in many parts of the country immediately Mwai Kibaki of the Party of National Unity (PNU) was declared the winner of the presidential poll and sworn in on 30th December 2007. The violence escalated as the leader of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Raila Odinga, immediately rejected the outcome of the poll. Such violence had never occurred in Kenya before and it had devastating consequences. The violence, commonly referred to as Post-Election Violence (PEV), continued for the next 14 days after Kibaki was declared the winner and according to the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence report (CIPEV or WAKI report), it led to 1,133 deaths, rape of approximately 3,000 women, severe injuries to 3,561 persons, massive destruction of both government and private property and displacement of over 300,000 people. Kenya had not experienced violence of such gravity before as previous ethnic clashes documented by the Akiwumi Commission which was commissioned in 1998 and the report released in 2002.