The Development Dilemma: Security, Prosperity, and a Return to History by Robert H. Bates

Author:Robert H. Bates [Bates, Robert H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Development, Public Policy, History & Theory, Comparative Politics, Economic Development, Political Science, World, Business & Economics, General
ISBN: 9781400888702
Google: n4i9DgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 35584798
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2017-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

KENYA

Kenyatta too faced growing opposition. Given the structure of the political terrain and the strategy he pursued to conquer it, Kenyatta also found himself in danger. Kenyatta came from the wealthiest province in Kenya, and he and his family presided over the wealthiest clique within it. He had long championed policies designed to bring prosperity to his core constituency. The result was growing criticism from politicians who charged the president with favoring his own.

Some of the opposition came from outside Central Province, and in particular from Nyanza Province and its energetic leader, Oginga Odinga. Situated far from Nairobi, Nyanza was poor. It was home to mosquito-borne diseases and parasites that were harmful to man and beast and endowed with heavy clay soils, difficult to hoe or plow. While Central Province may have been prospering under Kenyatta’s tutelage, Odinga realized, Kenya’s other provinces, and most notably his own, were not. Politicians and intellectuals were quick to rally behind Odinga’s critique. In the language that was fashionable at the time, they stated that while Kenya’s economy may be prospering under Kenyatta, the “center” was diverging from the “periphery” and prosperity was unevenly distributed.25

Other criticisms originated from within Kenyatta’s home base. There it was Kenyatta’s family that provided the focal point for the disaffected. The holdings of this “Royal Family”—in the words of Barry’s classic articles26—included land in the Rift Valley and coffee farms in the highlands; real estate in Nairobi; and licenses to open gambling saloons, hotels, and game lodges in Central Province and the coast. The conspicuous wealth of the Kenyattas provoked the ire of those who had failed to reap the fruits of independence. In the mid-1960s Odinga ventured forth from Nyanza, joined forces with radical politicians in Central Province, and formed the Kenya People’s Union (KPU). The KPU highlighted the growth of inequality in Kenya and championed a socialist alternative to Kenyatta’s vision of development.27

Opposition to Kenyatta’s rule was intensifying. It had spread nationally. As was true with Kaunda, Kenyatta could no longer be sure of winning the political game.

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