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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 005388 
 
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TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KCOR KE
SUBJECT:  Ethnicity & Politics in Kenya: Part 1, The 
British Heritage 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: A common Kenyan view of the colonial 
period holds that blatant favoritism by those in power on 
behalf of their own ethnic group was never more intense 
than in Kenya's first 68 years of its 111 year existence. 
Major political figures in today's Kenya were in their 
30s at independence, and so directly experienced how 
government at that time greatly favored the tiny settler 
minority.  While many Kenyans believe that their country 
must overcome this heritage of ethnic favoritism in 
governance if they are to achieve higher levels of 
economic and social progress, they nevertheless resent 
"hypocritical" preaching on the subject when it comes 
from "whites" in general and the British in particular. 
Foreigners, especially white foreigners, when speaking to 
Kenyan audiences on the topic of ethnicity and 
governance, would do well to start off with a frank 
acknowledgement about struggles for fair treatment for 
all in their own societies.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) While polls suggest that issues-based politics 
is slowly gaining ground among Kenyan voters, the 2007 
national elections will still largely be determined by 
the ability of key politicians to use ethnic rhetoric, 
money, patronage and muscle to win over ethnic voting 
blocs.  By "ethnic rhetoric" we mean both appeals to 
group solidarity to promote the political influence of a 
community and hence the flow of state resources to that 
community and rhetoric that stokes traditional inter- 
ethnic resentments for political mobilization purposes. 
This message presents a commonly held Kenyan view about 
the British colonial period as it relates to politics and 
ethnicity.  PolCouns gleaned this "narrative" of the 
colonial experience from discussions with Kenyans from 
many walks of life and regions of the country as well as 
reading various Kenyan writers and editorialists.  Our 
senior Kenyan colleagues concur that the views expressed 
here do indeed reflect the thinking of many Kenyan 
voters.  Septels will discuss Kenya's major ethnic voting 
blocs, the dangerously intense Luo-Kikuyu rivalry, and 
religious identity politics. 
 
The British Heritage:  Some Things Never Change 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Note:  The following does not purport to be an 
objective balance sheet of the British formation and 
administration of Kenya.  Rather, it presents common 
Kenyan attitudes about that period as it relates to 
politics and ethnicity.  End Note. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Kenya was formally established as a political 
entity in 1895.  Effective control of the entire 
territory was achieved in the early 1900s, although the 
British administration never bothered to assert full 
control over large swathes of unproductive Northern 
Kenya, leaving those areas mostly ungoverned.  Government 
investment in administration and infrastructure 
concentrated heavily on regions inhabited by the ethnic 
group in power: white settlers and representatives of the 
British government.  Throughout nearly the entire 68 
years of British administration, Kenya's formative period 
as a political entity, white settlers alone were 
permitted to organize themselves politically and lobby 
the administration.  (Note: A few elected seats for 
"Africans" was established by the administration just 
before independence in 1963.  End Note.)  The settler 
minority used their exclusive political clout to win for 
themselves large tracts of the most productive land, a 
monopoly on the production of the most important cash 
crops, and preferential treatment by the administration 
in all matters (security, education, employment in the 
state bureaucracy and military, etc.).  State security 
forces were used to seize the best lands from the prior 
inhabitants (mostly Kikuyu in the central highlands) for 
redistribution to the settlers.  The state enforced the 
settlers? monopoly on cash crop production and granted 
many other privileges to the small settler minority. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Is this all just irrelevant ancient history? 
Not really.  Several of today's major Kenyan political 
figures were in their 30's at independence in 1963. 
Their views of politics and the relation of the state to 
a favored ethnic group were affected by what they 
observed under British administration.  Many 
establishment politicians come from families that served 
the British administration (appointed traditional 
leaders, junior civil service, police, military), and so 
gained first hand knowledge of how the system worked. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The history of "White Kenya" is marked by shady 
land deals backed by corrupt courts in thrall to the 
richest and most politically well-connected settlers.  It 
 
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is also marked by increasing numbers of dispossessed 
landless farmers drawn from disfavored ethnic groups 
(that is, all other groups except for whites, but 
especially those groups inhabiting the richest lands, 
such as the Kikuyu).  Shady land deals, corrupt courts 
answerable only to the rich and politically well- 
connected, and farmers from out of favor ethnic 
communities dispossessed from their lands by the state; 
all these continue to be major issues in Kenya today. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Many Kenyans consider that the phenomenon of 
rulers favoring their own ethnic community was never more 
intense and blatant than in Kenya's first 68 years of its 
111 year existence.  While many Kenyans truly believe 
that their country must overcome this inherited style of 
bad governance if they are to achieve higher levels of 
economic and social progress, they nevertheless resent 
preaching on the subject when it comes from "whites" in 
general and the British in particular.  They tend to 
note, with a smirk, that those preaching virtue come from 
the same ethnic community ("whites") that committed the 
gravest sins in this regard when they were in power in 
Kenya.  Foreigners, especially white foreigners, when 
speaking to Kenyan audiences on the topic of ethnicity 
and governance, would do well to start off with a frank 
acknowledgement about struggles for fair treatment for 
all in their own societies. 
RANNEBERGER