{"id":748755,"date":"2024-06-01T05:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T02:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/news\/?p=748755"},"modified":"2024-05-31T17:27:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T14:27:51","slug":"kenya-at-60-six-key-moments-that-shaped-post-colonial-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/news\/2024\/06\/kenya-at-60-six-key-moments-that-shaped-post-colonial-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya at 60: six key moments that shaped post-colonial politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gabrielle Lynch<\/a>, University of Warwick<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenya celebrates 60 years of independence this year. As a political scientist who has studied<\/a> Kenya for the past 20 years, I consider a turning point from each decade that helped to shape the east African country\u2019s post-colonial politics. I haven\u2019t selected elections, assassinations or other moments that have enjoyed much coverage over the years. Instead, I turn to often-forgotten moments that shed light on the country\u2019s key steps forward \u2013 and backwards \u2013 and the role of agency and institutions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1964: The Lanet mutiny<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the 1960s and 1970s, governments across Africa fell<\/a> to military coups and countercoups. These nations suffered the arbitrary and authoritarian rule of military leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenya managed to avoid this fate. A regiment based at Lanet in Nakuru did stage an unsuccessful mutiny in 1964. In response, Kenya\u2019s first president, Jomo Kenyatta \u2013 as Kenyan political scholar Musambayi Katumanga has detailed \u2013 opted to keep the military small. He relied instead on various police units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenyatta also \u201cgradually altered the military\u2019s ethnic composition\u201d, which, at that time, was disproportionately composed of officers from Kalenjin, Kamba, Samburu and Somali communities. He increased the number of co-ethnic Kikuyu, Kenya\u2019s largest and most economically dominant ethnic group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These measures helped to ensure the military\u2019s loyalty to the regime. But at a cost. The multiplication of security units undermined control and accountabiliy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy of ethnic recruitment and promotion reinforced a sense of an ethnically biased state. It was a strategy copied by Kenyatta\u2019s successor, Daniel arap Moi, after a coup attempt in 1982. Kenya\u2019s third president, Mwai Kibaki, also adopted it after the country\u2019s 2007\/8 post-election crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1976: The Change the Constitution Movement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By the mid-1970s, Kenyatta was unwell. To prevent the automatic succession of his vice-president, Moi, a group of prominent Kikuyu politicians attempted to change the constitution. Their efforts were unsuccessful. Power transferred peacefully to Moi upon Kenyatta\u2019s death in 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the attempt had three important legacies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n