Ethnicity and KANU party politics: The case of Nairobi County c, 1960- 2008
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Date
2014-07-28
Authors
Murathi, Antony K.
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Abstract
Various studies have captured different aspects of politics in colonial and postindependent
Kenya. While these studies have contributed to our understanding
of political processes and democratic transitions in Kenya, there are still some
issues in Kenya's politics that have not been given adequate scholarly attention
and therefore require further investigation. In order to have a comprehensive
analysis of Kenya's political processes, there's a need to investigate how
ethnicity has influenced party politics at the grassroots level. This study seeks
to examine ways in which the use of ethnicity as a tool for political
mobilization influenced and shaped the organization of KANU party politics.
The study also seeks to demonstrate that ethnicity entrenched itself in Kenya
during the colonial period. The study is premised on the assumption that the
ethnic allegiance of Kenya's political parties is rooted in the colonial legacy.
The colonial experience prior to 1960-indirect rule, administrative separation of
communities, and the district association policy of 1950's, all worked in
manifold ways to cement ethnic identification in Kenya.Ethnic cleavage
reverberated in the nationalist movement, particularly from 1955, when the
colonial government re-allowed African political organizations operating
strictly at the district level. Post-independence political parties in Kenya
continued to expound ethnic cleavage by gravitating around the ethnic pole and
lacking a national appeal. It is also assumed that ethnicity largely crystallized as
the rallying point for organizing KANU party politics in Kenya. The study will
employ an integrated theoretical approach, adopting views from. a variety of
theoretical paradigms such as Marxism, the Primordial and Instrumental
perspectives. The concept of Neo-Patrimonialism with its appendage,
'clientelisni' school of thought, is also useful in this study and will help us to
analyze post-independence politics in Kenya with regard to ethnicity and
political mobilization. The study will analyze data from both primary and
secondary sources. Primary data will come from field research, carried out in
the three administrative districts of Nairobi City County. Informants will be
selected on the basis of their knowledge of political affairs in Nairobi County
and Kenya in general. Secondary data from various sources will be subjected to
historical criticism in order to verify its validity. Ultimately, data from primary
and secondary sources will be corroborated for authenticity and reliability