Consolidating Democracy in the Colonial Kenya (1920-1963): Challenges and Prospects

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dc.contributor.authorGathogo, Julius
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-13T12:43:29Z
dc.date.available2021-05-13T12:43:29Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.descriptionA research Articleen_US
dc.description.abstractKenya became a Crown Colony of the British government on 23 July 1920. Before then, 1895 to 1919, it was a protectorate of the British Government. Between 1887 to 1895, Scot William Mackinnon (1823-1893), under the auspices of his chartered company, Imperial British East Africa (IBEA), was running Kenya on behalf of the British Government. This article sets out to retrace the road to democracy in colonial Kenya, though with a bias to electoral contests, from 1920 to 1963. While democracy and/or democratic culture is broader than mere electioneering, the article considers electoral processes as critical steps in consolidating democratic gains, as societies now find an opportunity to replace bad leaders and eventually installs a crop of leadership that resonates well with their pains, dreams, fears and joys. With its own elected leaders, the article hypothesizes, a society has a critical foundation because elected people are ordinarily meant to address cutting-edge issues facing a given society. Such concerns may include: poverty, corruption, racism, marginalization of minority, ethnic bigotry, economic rejuvenation, gender justice, and health of the people among other disquiets. Methodologically, the article focusses more on the 1920 and the 1957general elections. This is due to their unique positioning in the Kenyan historiography. In 1920, for instance, a semblance of democracy was witnessed in Kenya when the European-Settler-Farmers’ inspired elections took place, after their earlier protests in 1911. They were protesting against the mere nomination of leaders to the Legislative Council (Parliament) since 1906 when the first Parliament was instituted in Kenya’s history. Although Eliud Wambu Mathu became the first African to be nominated to the Legislative Council in 1944, this was seen as a mere drop in the big Ocean, as Africans had not been allowed to vote or usher in their own leaders through universal suffrage. The year 1957 provided that opportunity even though they (Africans) remained a tiny minority in the Legislative Council until the 1963 general elections which ushered in Kenya’s independence. What other setbacks did the Kenyan democratic process encounter; and how were the democratic gains consolidated? While the article does not intend to focus on the voice of religious societies, or the lack of it, it is worthwhile to concede that a democratic process is an all-inclusive enterprise that invites all cadres to “come and build the barricading wall” for all of usen_US
dc.identifier.citationGathogo, J. (2020). Consolidating Democracy in Kenya (1920-1963). Jumuga Journal of Education, Oral Studies, and Human Sciences (JJEOSHS), 3(1), 1-18.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2618-1517
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/22144
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherJumuga Journal of Education, Oral Studies, and Human Sciences (JJEOHS)en_US
dc.subjectKenya’s democracyen_US
dc.subjectColonial Kenyaen_US
dc.subjectConsolidating democracy in Kenyaen_US
dc.subjectAfrican politicsen_US
dc.titleConsolidating Democracy in the Colonial Kenya (1920-1963): Challenges and Prospectsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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