Historical Reflections on Kenya

Macharia Munene

Description

This book thematically tackles issues that relate to the perpetual struggle between the forces of control and the forces of mental and intellectual liberation in Africa and Kenya in particular. The book addresses the colonial legacy of poverty creation, as well as the socio-political conditioning of Africans to dislike each other and to be irresponsible and disunited in the face of external threats. Poverty, hatred of other Africans, and excessive dependency on European powers can be traced to the policies adopted by colonial officials. Related to these issues, is post-colonial Kenya's attempts to addresses the political developments, the involvement of different types of media in those developments, Kenya's foreign policy, and the problem of political party transition. Ultimately, there are topical issues that continue to affect Kenya which include the question of coalition politics, the lessons of the 2002 elections, the media and corruption, parliament and foreign policy, and Africa's relations with the United States of America.

Sujets

• History

Informations

• Publié par: University of Nairobi Press
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789966792433
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Historical Reflections on Kenya Intellectual Adventurism, Politics, and International Relations

Historical Reflections on Kenya Intellectual Adventurism, Politics, and International Relations

Macharia Munene

University of Nairobi Press

First published 2012 by University of Nairobi Press (UONP) Jomo Kenyatta Memorial Library University of Nairobi P.O. Box 30197 – 00100 Nairobi E-mail: [e-mail] www.uonbi.ac.ke/press

© The University of Nairobi Press, 2012

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

The University of Nairobi Press supports and promotes University of Nairobi’s objectives of discovery, dissemination and preservation of knowledge, and stimulation of intellectual and cultural life by publishing works of the highest quality in association with partners in different parts of the world. In doing so, it adheres to the University’s tradition of excellence, innovation and scholarship.

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of fully acknowledged short passages for the purposes of criticism, review, research or teaching, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or means without prior written permission from the University of Nairobi Press.

University of Nairobi Library CIP Data

DT 433.558 .K4M3

Macharia Munene Historical reflections on Kenya:intellectual adventurism, politics and international relations/Macharia Munene. – Nairobi: University of Nairobi Press, 2012 225p. 1. Kenya – – History 2. History, Kenya 3. Kenya – – Intellectual life 4. Kenya – – Colonization I. Title

ISBN 10: 9966-792-13-9 ISBN 13: 978-9966-792-13-6

Printed by [e-mail]

Preface

This book is divided into four sections, each dealing with a particular theme. The first section tackles issues that are found in the realm of ideas. These relate to the perpetual struggle between the forces of control and the forces of mental and intellectual liberation. Africa and Kenya in particular, finds itself constantly struggling to free itself from all types of colonial controls in the form of material, political, and intellectual manipulation.

The second section deals with the colonial legacy of poverty creation, as well as the socio-political conditioning of Africans to dislike each other and to be irresponsible and disunited in the face of external threats. Poverty, hatred of other Africans, and excessive dependency on European powers can be traced to the policies adopted by colonial officials.

The third section on post-colonial Kenya, addresses the political developments since 1963, the involvement of different types of media in those developments, Kenya’s foreign policy, and the problem of political party transition.

The fourth section concerns itself with topical issues that continue to affect Kenya which include the question of coalition politics, the lessons of the 2002 elections, the media and corruption, parliament and foreign policy, and Africa’s relations with the United States of America.

Acknowledgements

The chapters in this book are an outcome of continuous research and presentations on different issues. In discussing such issues, I have over the years been provoked, sometimes unwittingly and at other times deliberately, by many people to respond to given phenomena. These include colleagues in different universities in and outside Kenya as well as prominent personalilities in many spheres of public life. In various ways, they gave me the opportunity to discuss my thoughts and perceptions of the way things are, appear to be, or should be. In her own way, Freida A. Brown, Vice-Chancellor at USIU, supported my intellectual escapades in various local and international fora where some of the ideas were tested, amused some people and seemingly, irritated a few.

I also received a lot of support from the editors at the University of Nairobi Press, particularly Pauline Mahugu and Kimaita Kirimania, who encouraged me to come up with this book touching on different aspects of Kenya’s experience. The result is position expositions spanning several years in which I try to respond to particular challenges and phenomena, some have been refined through presentations in different fora where different audiences would raise new questions or present a different way of looking at the same issue.

There are many people who are, in one or another, responsible for my thoughts and writing, who at different times, by providing the occasion or helping to crystalise a particular thought process, pricked my mind to focus on a series of events and try to make sense out of them.

Some of them include academic colleagues such as Joe Kadhi, Gerald Wanjohi, Gabriel Jal, Chege Waruingi, Godfrey Muriuki, Frederick Kangethe, Karega Munene, Margaret Gachihi, Vincent Martines Guzman, David Francis, Cirino Ofuho, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, David Anderson, Koyade Soremken, P. Godfrey Okoth, and Makumi Mwagiru. Outside academic circles, and among those who proded me to tackle certain issues were retired statesmen like Munyua Waiyaki and Julius Gikonyo Kiano, and Kenya government officials including Joseph Kaguthi. The input that these, and other people made, can be gleaned from the chapters of this book.

Macharia Munene January, 2012

Contents

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Section One: Contextualising History .................................. 1 1.                                      ! " # $  % %     &     ' ( ) "*        2.           " ! +(, '$  '')- #  (, '$('&.- %  (, '&.('') . ( ,  '')  %  ( - #/  (  . "*  0  ( ! 3.    !   " #  & 1  /      ' 2(    '-) !) "   3    4 3 !!     '$) !$  /      ,  '&)  '.)!.   ( -) "*    -! $    %& ' (  )  *#