Political & Economic Environment in Kenya
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this research
This is an excerpt from the paper...
The purpose of this research is to examine the political and economic environment in Kenya. Kenya is widely regarded as an African example of a politically stable society, in which there is broad participation in an expanding economy. Critics contend, however, that the political environment is character ized by repressive tolerance, while the economy serves primar ily the better off members of society.Kenya became an independent nation in December 1963.1 By African standards, Kenya's political environment has remained stable since independence. The country, however, permits only one legal political party the Kenya African National Union.2 The party became the vehicle through which legendary revolu tionary leader Jomo Kenyatta converted the Mau Mau led national resistance into a government.3 1J. Paxton, (Ed.), The Statesman's Year Book: 1989 1990, 126th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989), 772. 2S. J. Ungar, Africa: The People and Politics of An Emerging Continent (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985), 165. 3D. Fogel, Africa in Struggle: National Liberation and Proletarian Revolution, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Ism Press, 1986), 88. The balance of power between competing interests within the one party framework has often been tenuous.4 As might be expected, political intrigue has always been rife within the system.5 Tom Mboya, leader of the Kenyan Federation of Labor, and widely though
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ce in 1905, and prior to the time (about 1920) when the Colonial Office developed coherent development policies. The Foreign Office itself did not assume administrative responsi bilities until 1895.13 Prior to that time, the Europeans on the scene had a free hand, insofar as they were able to either persuade or compel the peoples of Kenya to do their bid ding.14
The Kikuyu people of Kenya did not live in villages. Rather, they lived in dispersed households. Thus, the early subsistence agriculture in Kenya tended to be highly individu alized, and use of its output was restricted to the producing family. This system was subject to almost immediate change with the arrival of the Europeans. The Europeans were not sympathetic to the agricultural objectives of the Kenyan peoples.15 Rather, agriculture began to be structured to support European objectives.
When the Foreign Office assumed administrative control over Kenya in 1895, little was done in the way of developing an agricultural policy for the country. As a result the dominance of European objectives in agriculture was allowed to develop in a policy vacuum. Subsequent to 1905, when the Colonial Office
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13Paxton, 772.
14M. P. K. Sorrenson, Origins of E
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Approximate Word count = 1529
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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