Consolidating Democracy in Kenya (1920-1963)

Abstract

This article sets out to trace the road to democracy in the colonial Kenya, though with a bias to electoral contests, from 1920 to 1963. With its own elected leaders, the article hypothesizes, a society has a critical foundation because elected people are ordinarily meant to address cutting-edge issues facing a given society. Such concerns would include: socio-economic concerns such as poverty, corruption, racism, marginalization of minority, ethnic bigotry, economic rejuvenation, gender justice, and health of the people among other concerns. Methodologically, the article focusses more on the 1920 and the 1957 general elections. This is due to their unique positioning in the Kenyan historiography. In 1920, for instance, a semblance of democracy was witnessed in Kenya when the European-Settler-Farmers’ inspired elections took place, after their earlier protests in 1911.