Africa

Kenya History

Fossilses found in East Africa suggest that protohumans roamed the area more than 20 million years ago. Recent finds near Kenya’s Lake Turkana indicate that hominids lived in the area 2.6 million years ago.

Cushitic-speaking people from northern Africa moved into the area that is now Kenya beginning around 2000 BC. Arab traders began frequenting the Kenya coast around the first century A.D. Kenya’s proximity to the Arabian Peninsula invited colonization and Arab and Persian settlements sprouted along the coast by the eighth century. During the first millennium A.D. Nilotic and Bantu peoples moved into the region and the latter now comprises three-quarters of Kenya’s population.

The Swahili language a mixture of Bantu and Arabic developed as a lingua franca for trade between the different peoples. Arab dominance on the coast was eclipsed by the arrival in 1498 of the Portuguese who gave way in turn to Islamic control under the Imam of Oman in the 1600s. The United Kingdom established its influence in the 19th century.

The colonial history of Kenya dates from the Berlin Conference of 1885 when the European powers first partitioned East Africa into spheres of influence. In 1895 the U.K. Government established the East African Protectorate and soon after opened the fertile highlands to white settlers. The settlers were allowed a voice in government even before it was officially made a U.K. colony in 1920 but Africans were prohibited from direct political participation until 1944.

On October 19, 1952, British Colonialist Government declares state of emergency; the next day Jomo Kenyatta, Achieng Oneko and others are arrested. (October 20th is now a public holiday, Kenyatta Day). This officially marked the start of the Mau Mau uprising. According to the Corfield report, 13,423 Africans were killed, thousands wounded and several dozen Europeans and Asians lost their lives. African casualties were so high because the British Government hired other tribes (mostly Kamba and Kalenjin) to act as the Colonialist army. This unit, called the Home Guard fought extensively with the Mau Mau fighters, whom were mostly of the Kikuyu, Meru and Embu tribes.

The Mau Mau fighters fled to the forests of Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Mountains. They were out numbered and out armed by the Colonialists and Home Guard, yet their guerilla tactics allowed them to hold on until the Colonialist Government realized this war would not be easy to win, and eradicating the Mau Mau would take more resources than the British Government would send to Africa. Slowly the Mau Mau gained support of other tribes, such as the Luo and Masai. Jomo Kenyatta wrote letters from prison to gain international support for the freedom movement. Because of all these reasons, the Colonists started to back down and allowed Africans to take part in the government.

The first direct elections for Africans to the Legislative Council took place in 1957. Kenya became independent on December 12 1963 and the next year joined the Commonwealth. Jomo Kenyatta a member of the predominant Kikuyu tribe and head of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) became Kenya’s first president. The minority party Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) representing a coalition of small tribes that had feared dominance by larger ones dissolved itself voluntarily in 1964 and joined KANU.

A small but significant leftist opposition party the Kenya People’s Union (KPU) was formed in 1966 led by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga a former vice president and Luo elder. The KPU was banned and its leader detained after political unrest related to Kenyatta’s visit to Nyanza Province. No new opposition parties were formed after 1969 and KANU became the sole political party. At Kenyatta’s death in August 1978 Vice President Daniel arap Moi became interim President. On October 14 Moi became President formally after he was elected head of KANU and designated its sole nominee.

In June 1982 the National Assembly amended the constitution making Kenya officially a one-party state and parliamentary elections were held in September 1983. The 1988 elections reinforced the one-party system. However in December 1991 parliament repealed the one-party section of the constitution. By early 1992 several new parties had formed and multiparty elections were held in December 1992.

President Moi was reelected for another five-year term. Opposition parties won about 45% of the parliamentary seats but President Moi’s KANU Party obtained the majority of seats. Parliamentary reforms in November 1997 enlarged the democratic space in Kenya including the expansion of political parties from 11 to 26. President Moi won re-election as President in the December 1997 elections and his KANU Party narrowly retained its parliamentary majority with 109 out of 122 seats.