We are economic prisoners despite gaining self-rule

Historians tell us that every past event and occurrence has more than one explanation. We know for a fact that Kenya’s independence was ‘earned’, not ‘granted.’ We also know that it was Mau Mau pressure and the swelling wave of nationalism that drove the colonialist out of town.

But there are some other historical factors that contributed to when we gained independence. Why did Kenya gain independence in 1964 instead of say, 1994, like South Africa? When the Malays declared ‘Merdeka’ (independence) in Malaysia, which was also a British colony, it took another six years until Kenyans could proclaim Madaraka (self-rule) in Kenya.

In his book ‘British Government Policy and Decolonization 1945-1963’ Frank Heinlein reports that in 1957 the Colonial British administration decided at a conference in Entebbe, Uganda, that Kenya would only be ‘granted’ independence in the mid-1980s. And even then, this was a rough estimation, not a certainty.

In my view, the colonialists aimed for the mid-eighties because they had made projections of the population level that white settlers would’ve reached by the 80s. This was a population level that would warrant representation in terms of leadership - and so enable them to be on the ballot. Not to mention that they would have gained enough time to consolidate their hold on local wealth; arable land and other resources. A very sound strategy indeed.

So why then did we gain independence in 1963 and not 1985 as planned? The answer is America. We can, to some extent, attribute this ‘premature’ handover of independence to the United States. But obviously, their contribution was not out of the kindness of ‘Big Brother’s’ heart.

The USA wanted a piece of ‘lucrative’ Africa. The intention was to lift the trade barriers that the British had put around her colonies, which blocked America’s access to raw materials, resources and markets. So America’s true goal was to open up extraction opportunities for itself. The American model of accumulation has anyway always been capitalistic rather than imperialistic. Additionally, as a former British colony itself, America could take the high road of condemning imperialism. In fact, at that time, Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor, was a big campaigner for decolonisation.

Towards the end of World War II, England was in a bad, bad place. They were being terribly ‘lemewad’ by the Germans, and they were dead broke. Then the Americans came to their rescue. At that time, the US and the Soviet Union were on their way to becoming Super Powers. By the time the war was over in 1945, England was up to its eyeballs in debt. And their ‘sponsor’, America, attached conditions to their support. Before the end of the war, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill had entered a policy agreement called the Atlantic Charter in 1941. Point three of the Charter expressly stated that all peoples had a right to ‘self- determination.’

For obvious reasons, Winston Churchill was very reluctant to let go of the African colonies. This explains the 15-year gap between the year when the Atlantic Charter came into force (1941) and when the first African British colony, Ghana, gained independence in 1957. This was a decade later than other colonies such as India, which got its independence in 1947. Owing to American and other pressures, the British were grudgingly leaving their best colonies - in African. And Kenya was amongst them.

But although in 1963 we were rid of political colonialism, an honest examination of Kenya’s situation would reveal that it was only replaced with economic neo-colonialism and geo-political capitalism.

From the West, we attained political Madaraka (Self Rule), but we became economic Mahabusus (Prisoners). Add to this the ever increasing looting of public funds, the new wave of Chinese ‘infrastructural colonialism’ and we have a recipe for a ‘joyous’ Madaraka weekend. Have a good one.

- The writer is a PhD candidate in Political Economy at SMC University. [email protected]