A history of the Mombasa African advisory council, 1945 - 1963

Abstract

This study is concerned with African interests and problems in colonial Kenya. The main focus is on the Mombasa African Advisory Council (MAACO), a body set up in 1945 to represent African interests on the Mombasa Municipal Board. The dissertation attempts to investigate the activities of MAACO and to assess the extent to which this body succeeded in solving the residential problems Africans were facing in Mombasa during the colonial period. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. Chapter One introduces the reader to the geographical location of Mombasa and gives a general background to the town's historical development. Chapter two contains the historical background to the evolution of local government in colonial Kenya. It examines the factors that led to the establishment of local government bodies like the Local Native Councils in 1924 and the municipal Governments in urban areas after 1928. It also considers the factors that led to the establishment of a municipal government in Mombasa . and the biased nature of representation on this government. It gives a short review of the problems Africans were facing and why they were not represented on municipal institutions until 1945.