Power and the Presidency in Kenya: The Jomo Kenyatta Years by Anaïs Angelo

Abstract

In Power and the Presidency in Kenya, Angelo focuses on “the political trajectory of both the man [Kenyatta] and the institution … exploring the ties that eventually bound president to presidency” (19). In doing so, Angelo has produced much more than a biography of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first independent president. She has written an institutional biography of the early postcolonial state, foregrounding negotiations over executive powers.This book is an exemplar of interdisciplinary scholarship, also cutting across sub-disciplinary boundaries. At its heart, Power and the Presidency is a work of political, cultural, and intellectual history. Moreover, by drawing from the methods of biography, anthropology, and political science, Angelo is able to offer a complete picture of Kenyatta’s life and politics, from the ideas that influenced his early political imagination to his plans for a successor. The presidency that Angelo uncovers is marked by distance and passivity. Although such words suggest weakness, Angelo shows that Kenyatta was not only a “powerful politician” but also a smart, strategic, and pragmatic one, with a “formidable ability to survive political crises” (13, 15). He intentionally remained above politics, cultivating personal relationships with politicians and the elite. Kenyatta played the part of a “reconciler” while establishing a “gatekeeper” presidency and “using his direct control over state resources to reinforce his position” (272). Ultimately, these actions allowed him to expand his presidential powers, disempower regional bureaucrats and the parliament, but also neglect the landless poor.In compiling this book, Angelo confronted the challenge posed by a dearth of firsthand archival sources. Thus, she centers on an important methodological issue—how to write histories of modern political leaders who left behind little documentary evidence. Angelo addresses it by reflecting on why “Kenyatta held private meetings, gave secret orders, or made personal promises,” concluding that Kenyatta intended this mode of operation to keep him above the political fray (35). Though Kenyatta’s personal papers are missing and the Office of the President’s files largely contain published speeches, Power and the Presidency nonetheless contributes much new information. Angelo consults the files from the Eastern region and from the Ministry of Land, the reports of district commissioners, and the newly released British “migrated archives,” along with a limited number of oral histories. These sources, and others from the British High Commission, the Commonwealth Relations Office, and the Murumbi Africana Collection allow Angelo to flesh out the historical narrative.Though the absence of sources from Kenyatta himself is frustrating, Angelo manages not only to provide a clearer understanding of the president but also, more importantly, of his rule and its legacies for Kenya’s political institutions. Indeed, this book provides important insights into Kenyatta’s administration and his closest confidantes, while also tackling key topics in the Africanist and Kenyanist historiography regarding land, inequality, and power. Whereas the first two chapters explore the foundations of Kenyatta’s thought and his political rise, the remaining six chapters demonstrate the interconnections between postcolonial policy—specifically, the suppression of Mau Mau and land-settlement programming—and the establishment of centralized executive powers, which paved the way for authoritarianism. Such an exploration offers new understandings of other important political actors who tend to receive less scholarly attention. Chapter 5, for example, illustrates how Jackson Angaine became a “convenient political proxy” and how his political appointment as minister for Lands and Settlement was intimately connected to efforts to repress Mau Mau. Chapter 8 explores Kenyatta’s notion of family to explain why, though his government was undergoing a “Kikuyuization,” he favored Daniel arap Moi, a Kalenjin, as his successor.This impressive work will have a reach beyond Africanists. It demonstrates how scholars can respond to methodological challenges with creativity. Indeed, Power and the Presidency is a stronger work for its emphasis on the administration and peripheral actors rather than exclusively on “the man.” In broadening her approach, Angelo argues that Kenyatta represented more than simply a cult of personality; he created lasting legacies for Kenya’s postcolonial institutions.