Facts and fiction about the land issue in Kenya, and the State of Emergency of 20th October 1952

The accompanying image taken in the year 1898, is of Laibon Lenana (middle), who's correct pronunciation is actually "Oloiboni Olonana," and the then Commissioner of the East Africa Protectorate, as Kenya was then known, Sir Arthur Hardinge (extreme left). Coincidentally Kimathi Street Nairobi, used to be known as Hardinge Street, named after the said Sir Arthur Hardinge. The meeting in accompanying image took place at Ngong, as mentioned, in 1898.

The history of contemporary Kenya starts with the formation of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) on 18th April 1888, and IBEA was a vehicle and a front via which the British Crown and British Government gained a foothold in what we today know as the Republic of Kenya. The first Chairman of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) was known as Sir William MacKinnon and there is indeed still a MacKinnon Road down at the Kenyan Coast. There also used to be a statue of Sir William MacKinnon at the Kenyan Coast which was removed, as was the statue of Lord Delamere in Nairobi.

Initially, about half the size of Kenya as we know it today, was administered by six different IBEA appointed Administrators from 3rd September 1889 to 30th June 1895, namely George Sutherland Mackenzie, Francis Walter de Winton, Greg Martin, Lloyd Williams Matthews, Sir Gerald Herbert Portal and John R.W. Pigott.

On 1st July 1895, following groundwork laid by IBEA, administration of about half the territory of what we today know as Kenya, was transferred to the British Foreign Office, and the territory under administration renamed the East Africa Protectorate i.e. about half of Kenya as we today know it, became a British Protectorate.

Six different Commissioners administered the East Africa Protectorate from 1st July 1895 to 30th December 1905 i.e. Sir Arthur Hardinge, mentioned above, C.H. Craufurd, Sir Charles Eliot (Wabera Street Nairobi used to be known as Eliot Street), Frederick John Jackson, Sir Donald William Stewart and Sir James Hayes Sadler (Koinange Street Nairobi used to be known as Sadler Street).

Many Kenyans are of the view and opinion that the British "forcibly dispossessed us of our land," which does bear some element of truth, but the the tactics employed by the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA), and the British Foreign Office via the East Africa Protectorate, were more refined, more subtle, more shrewd, cunning, clever and foresighted.

Land acquisition by the British in Kenya as we today know it, was initially done via agreements and treaties with local leaders, such as the one between Sir Frederick Lugard of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) and Chief Waiyaki wa Hinga of the Kikuyu, and Sir Arthur Hardinge, in accompanying image, on behalf of the British Foreign Office/the East Africa Protectorate, and Laibon Lenana on behalf of the Maasai. Nabongo Mumia of Wanga and Chief Kinyanjui wa Gathirimu, were two other proxies that the British used to acquire land in Kenya.

The British knew exactly what they were doing, because there are all manner of clauses in Common Law and Commercial Law regarding transfer of any and all kinds of properties e.g. "a Nominal rate vs. a Market rate," "a placement," "an initial offer," "an invitation to treat," and "consideration/transfer as a gift, or at a fee."

Whatever deeds that were "signed" back then by the likes of Waiyaki wa Hinga, Laibon Lenana, Nabongo Mumia, Kinyanjui wa Gathirimu and several others, are in the safe custody of the British no doubt, as proof of initial ownership, and for use too, in the event that the British are "sued" at the International Court of Justice, or an equivalent, for fraud, unlawful acquisition, transgression and theft, litigation that can take years and years, and which on the face of it, will be hard to eventually win, in so far as there is documentation to proof that the transfers were "bona fide" and procedural. Moreover "ignorance" cannot be pleaded in Law, and cannot be used as a recourse i.e. that the likes of Waiyaki wa Hinga, Laibon Lenana, Nabongo Mumia, Kinyanjui wa Gathirimu and several others, were "unaware of what they signed" and/or were "unaware" of the short term and long term ramifications of the deeds they signed. Moreover, the tactics employed by the British in land acquisition in Kenya, are the very same tactics that the British employed elsewhere in the world in their dominions, protectorates and colonies, including the United States of America, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The British back then in the East Africa Protectorate/Kenya, then moved fast e.g. major loans were taken, and the Kenya - Uganda Railway Line was completed in 1901. The Kenya - Uganda Railway Line was described at the time as "the most expensive project in history." The Kings African Rifles (KAR), a military force, was then established in 1902. Hospitals, schools, police posts and other amenities also began being put up across the East Africa Protectorate/Kenya.

Missionaries began training Black Kenyans e.g. Jeremiah and Miriam Awori, patriarch and matriarch of the famous and wealthy Awori families of Kenya and Uganda, Harry Thuku, James Beauttah and Jomo Kenyatta, who courtesy of the Church of Scotland Mission in Thogoto, Kiambu, became a carpenter around the year 1915.

In 1905, the East Africa Protectorate, as Kenya was then known, became British East Africa, and the administration of British East Africa was moved from the British Foreign Office to the British Colonial Office, though British East Africa/Kenya, was still not officially declared a British Colony i.e. that happened 15 years later in 1920 when British East Africa now officially became the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya.

Back to 1905 i.e. the East Africa Protectorate, as mentioned, was renamed British East Africa in 1905, and the administration of British East Africa began advertising for settlers and investors e.g. "Come to British East Africa, 'a new paradise' with promise and a future, with a railway line, roads, hospitals, schools and security e.g. police posts and the Kings African Rifles (KAR). The British even went as far as inviting Col. Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt on a highly publicised eleven month Safari of British East Africa/Kenya in 1909, immediately after Col. Roosevelt exited office as US President. Col. Roosevelt's eleven month Safari of British East Africa/Kenya went "viral" by the standards of those days, and is what "launched" British East Africa/Kenya.

Settlers began coming to Kenya in bigger and bigger numbers after 1909, including from South Africa e.g. F.W. de Klerk's grandfather i.e. F.W. de Klerk, the last President of Apartheid South Africa. Now is when the shrewdness and foresight of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA), the East Africa Protectorate and British East Africa began to pay off i.e. those "sale agreements/placements/transfers/treaties" they signed with e.g. Waiyaki wa Hinga, Laibon Lenana, Nabongo Mumia and Kinyanjui wa Gathirimu.

The settlers and investors who started coming to British East Africa/Kenya in bigger and bigger numbers after 1909 were sold land and properties at commercial rates not nominal rates. Even big aristocratic White settler names like Delamere, Enniskillen and Criticos, did not get vast expansive tracts of land at nominal rates, they got them at commercial rates.

From 31st December 1905 to independence on 12th December 1963, British East Africa and the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya were administered by 21 different Governors.

Therein too, the State of Emergency declared in Kenya on 20th October 1952, was not unique to Kenya i.e. just as the British employed the same tactics in land acquisition across it's dominions, protectorates and colonies, so also did the British declare States of Emergency in a number of it's other dominions, protectorates and colonies, such as the examples below:

(1). The British declared a State of Emergency in Malaysia (then known as British Malaya), on 16th June 1948;

(2). The British declared a State of Emergency in Ghana (then known as the British Gold Coast), on 12th January 1950;

(3). The British declared a State of Emergency in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), on 12th August 1953;

(4). The British declared a State of Emergency in Cyprus on 26th November 1955;

(5). The British declared a State of Emergency in Malawi (then known as Nyasaland), on 3rd March 1959;

(6). The British declared a State of Emergency in Mauritius on 23rd January 1968;

(7). White settlers in Rhodesia (as Zimbabwe was then known), declared what was known as Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) on 11th November 1965, technically making Rhodesia/Zimbabwe a British Dominion rather than a British Colony, and on the very same 11th November 1965, a State of Emergency was declared in Rhodesia;

The history of Kenya is therefore not unique at all when compared with other British dominions, protectorates and colonies, as illustrated above, and we will serve ourselves much better by acknowledging this, and by accordingly being guided by the facts as they are, rather than continuing to allow ourselves to be guided by myths, untruths, misrepresentations, empty self-glorification and empty self-importance;