Socio-economic Inequalities In Kenya The Case Of Rift Valley Province

Abstract

This thesis is about the emergence and development of socio-economic inequalities in Kenya. It mainly deals with the role of land as a factor of economic exploitation by the European settler capitalism. It also deals with African cheap labour as the exploited factor of the newly introduced colonial capitalism. The study therefore deals ,with the supplanting of the African traditional socio-economic systems by European capitalism and related oppressive government machinery. As such, it becomes a study of white settlement and alienation of the African land owners, Nakuru District in rift Valley Province is used as a case study to demonstrate the development of inequalities from the precolonial times to the post-independence period. The study begins with a brief look at some of the ideas of the subject of socio-economic inequalities. These include the Marxist and weberian ideas, and also the more recent ideas on the role of international capital in the so called "Third world". African traditional socio-economic systems are briefly examined as a prelude to establishment of colonialism which extended capitalist exploitation to foreign lands. These included the Ndorobo (Dorobo), the Masai, the Nandi, and the Kikuyu. All these except the Kikuyu were found in or around the Nakuru District on the eve of European occupation of the district. The Kikuyu are included as they constituted the greatest majority of the African migrants into the area durlng the colonial (and to a great extent during the post-independence) period. The extent to which these societies were egalitarian and communal is analyzed in relation to the destruction that they later suffered under colonial capitalist subjugation and exploitation. The basis and the process of land alienation by European settlers under the umbrella of British Government in Britain and its agents in Kenya becomes a crucial part of the thesis. This part coincides with the colonial period. It includes the various methods used by the European settlers in order to obtain cheap or free land and labour for them to exploit. Resistance by Africans from being converted into wage labourers for the benefit of the capitalist Europeans is also observed. The 'next part of the thesis deals with the transfer of the cushite Highlands" to Africans and it coincides with the independence period. The , role of international capital in the process of the transfer of land from the European settlers is noted especially in its relationship with the adoption of European capitalism by the new African government and the cooperation between the European capitalists and the new African ruling petty-bourgeoisie. The objective was to involve the new African petty-bourgeoisie in the exploitation of the rest of the Africa masses. The petty-bourgeoisie is in this exercise engaged as an instrument of international capitalist exploitation of the Kenyan masses. As will be observed this is achieved from two fronts: a) from the foreign aid and grants; b) from foreign investments, especially by the multinationals. The last part of the study deals with the implications of continued capitalist oppression and exploitation in Kenya after independence. The role of the African petty-bourgeoisie in this oppression and exploitation of the Kenyan masses is further examined, especially in relation to the kind of the struggles that may follow the growing unemployment, inequalities and poverty which may lead to a revolution against opppression and exploitation.