Politics of New Geography, Statehood, Demographics and Territorial Integrity

From the earliest days of the republic, Kenya was dogged by residual challenges residual to colonialism, such as the fate of the recently dethroned former oppressors, i.e., colonialists. There were questions of whether they would stay or go (most chose to go), the restive Northern Frontier District (NFD) and the recently concluded, skewed ‘referendum’ conducted by the departing British. It gave the impression that prolonged rule followed by secession, or immediate secession to join Somalia were possibilities, despite the Cairo Declaration and the decision to retain the borders as they were, and Kenya’s determination not to lose territory. The restiveness quickly became the Shifta War that would persist another four years, There were other pressing matters: relations with the British, with East Africa, with the rest of Africa, residual colonialism in the southern African region, the question of ideological alignment in the context of the Cold War, and even semi-domestic issues such as the composition of the military, which was perceived to be still predominantly British-dominated. These may not appear to be especially challenging, but when one considers, for example, the future of an East African Federation (preferred by Nyerere) and the ideological directions the countries were taking (Nyerere’s Tanzania was leaning socialist and practicing Ujamaa, while Kenyatta’s Kenya was decidedly leaning capitalist and Uganda’s direction was still up in the air), the seeds of East Africa’s split, even before its unification in 1967, were being planted. On the foreign policy front, Kenya had much to do and much to learn, including winning a low-level insurgency armed and supported by the Somali government in pursuit of the Greater Somali project, and partly funded by the USSR.