During my basic schooling, one of remarkable motion in most of mock plenary sessions to sharpen oral english language skills was ‘Colonialist Brought More Harm Than Good In Africa’. Myself, I used to be on side of opposers, for simple reason; Christmas chapati and Xmas itself.
That aside, being an avid reader and taking cue President Uhuru Kenyatta’s eighth State of Nation Address where he brought into fore Colonial administration in his comparative infrastructure attainment. I reckoned we had government prior to our independence. And there was three classes of citizens-‘raia’-;Settlers, Asians and Natives [Africans]. And they all had grievances.
From July 1, 1895 Kenya was called the East African Protectorate, which in 1915 came to be called Kenya. Settlers interests would always supersede those of railway labour immigrants Asians and Africans who owned the country.
After the First World War, the settlers had already strengthened their position in Kenya. Soon after the war the European and Asian groups became engaged in a bitter opposition to one another. In an attempt to cure this antagonism the Colonial Secretary, Lord Devonshire, [In this case the government] called a special conference in London in 1923-akin to the Lancaster Conference-which was attended by both European and Asian representatives.
Well, the outcome of the conference, embodied in the Devonshire White Paper, disappointed both groups. The White Paper rejected control of Kenya by either the Europeans or Asians settlers, and declared that Kenya was a country for the Africans. It called this ‘African Paramountcy’. So, the ‘First Seed of African Win’ in that matter, Kenyans, in my view.
In that vein, Colonial Government was in away socializing African into modernity, from common law to public law. To support this view. Both epitomes of Kenya’s freedom agitation, Dedan Kimathi and Mzee Jomo Kenya were subjected to adjective law. Where Kimathi despite committing felony by jungle law was legally immobilized and indicted upon conviction handed death sentence hence missed a opportunity certificate of socialization attainment of the Kenyan Nation. Mzee Jomo Kenyatta got it because his conviction was of jail term.