Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi

Public enterprise is a common feature of many economies throughout the world. It is a formula that has been applied in both socialist and capitalist states and is pervasive in Africa. The study of the phenomenon in Africa reveals that public Enterprise in not only an instrument of economic policy, it also has set social and political goals. The case of African Countries seems that after the euphoria of political independence, the exigencies of economic independence called for increased state intervention. In Kenya this intervention has been motivated by a desire to promote private (indigenous mainly and to a lesser extent, other) enterprise. The consequences have been the perpetuation and amplification of social and regional disparities that were already in existence or incipient at independence. The paper is divided into two main parts. The first part deals with the theoretical and historical origins of state enterprise, as well as the definition of the concept. The second part deals with the results - economic and social of this-type of intervention in Kenya.