Kenyan History

Purpose - The study will be aimed at giving a general review of the role of gender in liberation
movement through a multi-layered study of the Mau Mau movement in Kenya from 1947 through to
the early 1950’s. By examining this historically important case, the researcher will clarify the process
by which liberation movements transform social structures and the significant roles played by each
gender jointly and separately.
Design/methodology – The study is primarily conceptual and will also use two major research
strategies: a quantitative analysis of county-level data and case studies. Data will be collected from
archives, interviews, newspapers, and published reports.
Hypothesis – This paper will challenge the argument that liberation movements were inconsequential.
By extending the political process school of social movement theory, which relies heavily on visible
activism, to include the new social movement approach, it is contended that underlying processes of
change, associated with the values and affiliations of those involved in non-social movements.
Findings- The paper provides empirical insights into the unsung roles of the women and children that
included spying, information gathering and militancy, among others in the liberation struggles. Studies
on the contribution of gender often tend to overlook the contribution of women and children in the Mau
Mau Movement.
Research limitations/implications – Limitations: as the paper is primarily conceptual, there is a need to
develop the practical implications beyond those mentioned below. Implications: there is a need to
reorient research into social economic and political change to take fuller account of liberation
movement processes.
Practical implications – It is recognised that the literature on liberation movements needs to take
account of the differing experiences and potential strategies of those that were affected.
Originality/value – Originality of the paper lies in the use of insights from the field of political
sociology to enrich understanding of role of gender in liberation struggles and political activism.

Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor identifies “[t]he human body and person [as] the locus of [her] artistic quest”  and it is this focus on the body which drives her intimate portrait of Kenya’s independence struggle in her novel, Dust. Rather than engaging with the concerns of “diasporic identities [and] cultural otherness”  , which so often form the preoccupations of the African literary diaspora, Owuor’s rendering of East Africa acknowledges the alterity experienced by Africans in their own lands, inhabiting peripheries with their home nations. This paper explores Adhiambo Owuor's use of Kenyan history and the intimate histories of Kenyans caught in the struggle for Independence in order to explore the emotional terrain of the Kenyan post-colony.

Ever since ancient times, marvellous yarns have been told about the existence of diminutive peoples in faraway lands. Despite their modern identification with short statured hunter-gatherers in the rainforests of Africa, the telling of similar tales has not entirely abated. Anthropologist Martin Walsh recalls his encounter with a former arrow poison trader who recounted his capture and imprisonment underground by a group of Wabilikimo, the fabled Pygmies of the East African interior. Was this just another tall story about short people, or a mangled memory of real events?

Since 1961 the relatively tiny ex-Portuguese Goa has been transformed from a rather forgotten and underdeveloped colonial enclave to a state within the Indian Union with a strong tourism sector and one of the highest per capita-income of any Indian state. The success of Goa today allows one to forget that its colonial past resulted in thousands of Goans being forced to migrate to ‘British India’, East Africa and the Persian Gulf. Historical research has tended to focus on 16th and 17th century “Golden Goa” or its liberation. At the same time 19th and 20th century histories of the Persian Gulf and East Africa have been Eurocentric in focus or have stressed indigenous narratives in the post-colonial period. Both of these directives have excluded the migrant story, and it is this hidden history that is investigated in this paper, with particular reference to the development of an army of Goan administrators for the areas under the jurisdiction of the Bombay Presidency of British India. The paper also sets out to identify the relationship between Goans and their colonial rulers in East Africa and its implications for cross-cultural relationships between Goans and other Indians as well as Africans.

African states have been seen to struggle with the implementation of democracy, both before and after they adopted multiparty electoral systems, from the 1990s onwards. Many states continued to be dominated by a single party and opposition parties have found it difficult to establish themselves as regime parties dominate the political competition. The neo-patrimonial literature, as the most widely used framework for analysing African politics, explains this in terms of a misuse of state power and corrupt electoral practises favouring the ruling parties. This thesis argues that African politics cannot be adequately understood using a neo-patrimonial framework, because this framework discounts the possibility of African political thought and the development of a political organisation in Africa as a basis for democracy and public good politics. In the case of Tanzania it is argued that the continued electoral success of CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi) cannot be explained either by the misuse of state power or corrupt election practices, and that the explanation lies in the capacity of CCM to use a legitimacy narrative to build a political organisation and the continued mobilisation of the party and the electorate on the basis of ‘public good politics’ founded on the ideas of the independence movement. It analyses the way in which the regime built legitimacy and popular support between 1961 and 1985 and how the regime party used this legacy of legitimacy to control the transition to a multi party system. It demonstrates that the continued high levels of electoral support for the regime party CCM rested on a successful legitimacy narrative developed during the multi-party era and linked to the ideology of the independence movement rather than the factors indicated by the Neo-patrimonial literature. Contrary to the argument of neo-patrimonial approaches, which posits a pessimistic view of the capacity of African states to evolve into democracies, this thesis argues that the case of Tanzania indicates that a form of African public good politics and the building of a political community can be a foundation for the development of democratic government.

This is a film text which depicts the history of Kenya circa 1890's to 1957 which revolves around the biography of Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi and the Kenya Land Freedom Army. On October 20th 1952 the British Empire declared a State of Emergency in Kenya culminating in a dramatic guerrilla war fought on the fringes of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares Ranges. The film text is a three year intensive research project undertaken at Kenyatta University Film Department which analyses Kenya's road to self independence and the demise of the British Empire.

This article explores a violent episode in Kenya’s late-colonial history in which a confrontation between police and members of an anti-colonial religious movement called Dini ya Msambwa resulted an estimated fifty deaths. Drawing on archival documents and interviews with survivors, I reconstruct the event—the “Kolloa Affray,” as it became known—before showing how its violence has been preserved and transformed in the historical theology and ritual practice of the Dini ya Roho Mafuta Pole ya Afrika, which claims to be a continuation of the Msambwa movement. For survivors of the violence itself, and for others who suffered communal punishment in its aftermath, it is an historical wrong for which the British government owes compensation. For the Mafuta Pole faithful, however, the death of Dini ya Msambwa’s leader Lukas Pkech at Kolowa becomes a kind of second crucifixion, “cancelling” the violence of the past and ushering in a new era of forgiveness and reconciliation. The simultaneous preservation and negation of this violent past in Mafuta Pole historical consciousness is shown through an analysis of its discursive, ritual, and memorial practices.

This article demonstrates some of the conceptual limitations of the Other in the analysis of cross-cultural encounters by interrogating early modern Portuguese ideas about Swahili-speakers. Portuguese authors imagined Muslims of the East African coast as "after our fashion," and the intimate, though conflicted relationships that developed between these two groups illustrate the legacies of such perceptions. The essay challenges the notion that Luso-Swahili relations were entirely antagonistic and suggests instead that Portuguese interpretations of Swahili-speakers as familiar allowed some East Africans to maintain, and even further, their commercial and political interests. Since Portuguese administrators in East Africa became dependent on the Swahili as a result of the conceptual categories they employed, we should more closely scrutinize the role and legacies of preconceptions in cross-cultural interaction.

The Covid-19 pandemic and its effects dominated Kenyan politics, its foreign relations, and its socioeconomic developments. Kenya registered its first case of the novel coronavirus on 13 March 2020. The pandemic led to significant loss of life not only from health complications but also as a result of police brutality and health issues arising from the attendant loss of livelihoods in an economy that is largely informal and dependent on tourism. Dominant political issues in 2020 were nation-building, devolution, corruption, terrorism, and economic downturn due to the pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic had far reaching political consequences. The pursuit of a united Kenya continued through the proposed Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), resulting in new elite alliances and divisions. These divisions were exacerbated by the devolution disagreements that emerged from the planned revenue-sharing formula among different counties. On foreign affairs, Covid-19 strained and promoted relations between Kenya and other states in equal measure. Relations with neighbouring Tanzania were strained over different pandemic containment measures, while relations with the US and China were strained by the increasingly nationalist and protectionist policies of the great powers. Macroeconomic indicators weakened as the economy took a downturn, along with other development indicators.

Reconstructing the history of a people is very challenging. Researchers have to use a range of multidisciplinary conceptual tools. One has to critically analyze several sources including looking at the historical accounts of adjoining groups. Like the rest of the people of Africa, the history of Turkana, Pokot, and Samburu lacks written pre-colonial historical records. Absence of archived written historical accounts about the origins, culture, and customs of a people makes it hard to keep up and handover oral history and traditions to the young generations as they were. Writing of Africa's history began with the arrival of Europeans who unfortunately started by claiming that there was no such thing as African history and that the history of Africa began with the history of the Europeans in Africa. Thus, periodization in African history by the early Eurocentric historians and colonial officials tended to focus on events that coincided with their intrusive arrival rather than events antedating them. Having this at the back of the mind, this article attempts to reconstruct ethnocultural history of three pastoral neighbors, the Turkana, Pokot, and Samburu, whose arrival, settlement, and coming into formal existence, predate the arrival of Europeans in Kenya. Although oral traditions and eyewitness testimonies are problematic, they are nevertheless key in corroborating post-colonial written accounts of origin, migration, and settlement of groups that contributed to the formation of the present-day Turkana, Pokot and Samburu societies. I am cognizant of the fact that not all the information found in writing or books should be taken to be historical truth; there could be a little bit of exaggeration, bias, or prejudice. Therefore, documented literature by Colonial Administrators, Colonial sociologists, European explorers, missionaries, and historical reconstructions even by African scholars themselves will not be accepted uncritically to get a reasonable insight back through the murkiness of time. In addition to this, knowledge of the origin of place-names can shed light on the history and settlement of a people. In other words, place-names have the propensity of revealing the identity of those who settled in a place and when they did. The study of toponyms, therefore, can unveil important facts about the past, thereby yielding information concerning the history, religion, and civilization of the first occupants. By use of comparative linguistics, this article, in part, is a humble contribution to ethno-cartographical history of the Turkana through 'deconstruction' of Place-names in Samburu, West Pokot, and Baringo Counties. This is not an attempt to put up a case to reclaim places formerly occupied by the Turkana in the neighboring Counties, rather, it is hoped that this is going to help the Turkana people appreciate their ethnohistorical heritage beyond Kapedo, [Turkana land blatantly claimed by the Suk or Pokotoozek] and other such places claimed by Pokot. I will begin by giving a snapshot of the ethnocultural history of the three groups, and then followed by a table detailing the ethno-cartographical heritage of the Turkana arrived at by deconstructing place-names in West Pokot, Baringo, and Samburu Counties and finish with concluding remarks.

Reflection on African consumer interests promises to enrich our understanding of Africa’s position within emerging global hierarchies. Specifically, attention to African cultures of consumption before colonial rule can sharpen our understanding of why--by what social and cultural rationales--Africans engaged in regional and global exchanges that sowed social strife, adversely affected local ecologies, and gave rise to slave-plantation complexes in East and West Africa. While Africa’s global trade relationships created few opportunities for long-term capital accumulation on the continent, the consumer goods acquired through them were vital to position, belonging, and authority in most African societies. At the same time, the consumer demands of Africans shaped global economic relationships well into the colonial era, sometimes in ways that colonial administrations could not easily control.

Professor Abdilatif Abdalla was imprisoned by the Kenyatta regime after he, in a political pamphlet Kenya: Twendapi? (Kenya: Where Are We Heading To?). While in prison, he wrote an anthology of poems that ironically won the 1974 edition of the Jomo Kenyatta Award for Literature, an award named after the very man who had imprisoned. The interview.

Post-colonial writers can play a key role in bringing unity among the people. Colonised people are emerging out of the slavery and inhuman behaviour that the colonisers had towards them; so the writers from these nations can encourage them and affirm them with a good and bright future by promoting unity. The writes can also remind them of their glorious history and the wonderful life they had before the colonisation and thereby help them to remove the inferiority complex infused by the colonisers. This work is an attempt to analyse how a change can be brought about by elucidating the conditions that colonised had to go through based on Ngugi wa Thiong'o The Writer in Changing the Society.

The settlement of Sudanese soldier colonists throughout British East Africa was a legacy of colonial expansion and pacification.  These settlements were developed from the institution of military slavery, which was marked by a close association of slave soldiers with the state and the isolation of military slave communities from the general populace.  But once pacification was complete new policies representing new interests made the presence of these non-indigenous Africans redundant.  Terms of settlement altered after World War One, and the right of Sudanese, or Nubis, to remain in their original settlements came under attack.  The largest, and most problematic, Sudanese colony in Kenya was the former military encampment of Kibera, on the edge of Nairobi.  Sudanese claimed that land had been granted to them as a community ‘in perpetuity’ in lieu of a pension, and in recognition for their services to the Crown.  The resulting struggle to retain land ownership in Kibera drew on ideas inherent in the old institution of military slavery and was presented in terms of a reciprocal loyalty between the Sudanese and the British Crown and Empire, rather than the specific legal jurisdiction of the Kenya Colony government.  These arguments for a special status within the Empire have since been turned against the Nubis to deprive them of citizenship and land rights in post-independence Kenya.

This paper explores the effects of missionaries’ opposition to African cultures which led to the creation of Independent Churches. It mainly focuses on Kenyan colonial history. These facts are incorporated in Ngugi’s novel: A Grain of Wheat. In this literary work, The Independent Churches reflect the difficulties that the autochthones are confronted with while deciding to conciliate two different cultures. These Churches express a religious resistance. During colonization, the guardians of the traditions who discovered the new religion, Christianity, faced the missionaries’ Churches by setting up Independent Churches. This article takes into consideration many aspects related to people’s realities especially in the religious domain. Thus, the contribution of this study is to lay the stress on the role that the Independent Churches played in the empowerment of African cultures. This work also underscores the cultural effects such as religious syncretism stemming from the mixture between Christian elements and African traditions.

Key words: cultures, Independent Churches, Gikuyu, liberation, religious syncretism.

QUESTION:
Why and how did colonialism come to Kenya? What kinds of structures of power and authority did the colonial powers establish in Kenya during the colonial period? Who wielded and exercised power and authority in Kenya during the colonial period? What qualities did one need to exercise power and authority in Kenya during the period?


As a continent, Africa has had a tough past. The race for Europeans to colonize Africa began in the 1400’s. Many African ancestors were displaced from their own kingdoms by newly arrived Euro-centric imperialists. East Africa's Kenya was one such country to face this ordeal. Kenya as a country was dominated and overpowered quickly by the domineering Europeans, who were motivated by the urge for more territories, the demand for cheap labor and raw materials to support the industrial revolution in Europe and its strategic position in relation to India and the Far East. The Europeans, primarily British, that came to Kenya devastated its native resources and culture through colonization so severely it is still felt today.

Discourses on development dynamics in Africa are often emotional and some lacking in research and grounded analysis, a lacuna which this book has addressed. This book Discourses on Sustainable Development in Africa contains chapters dealing with development issues covering many parts of the continent, on how the whole notion of development has been handled. The book demonstrates how there have been many discourses on the dynamics of development in Africa, many of which point to internal and internal dynamics while others indicate presence of hybrids. Development experts often cite internal and external dynamics in the discourses, without paying attention to the emergence of hybrids and blends. Discussions of development in Africa often take different dimensions and directions, some of which are factual while others get lost in polemics and convoluted statistics. This book breaks from previous confusion and is insightful and gives analyses on development on the African continent through a variety of voices and spaces that allow the reader to gain. The chapters reveal deep-rooted, underlying and immediate causes of some of the challenges faced on the continent. The authors have varying levels of qualifications and experience and provide excellent analyses on recent developments on the African continent. The book is relevant to all scholars and researchers interested in development agenda of the African continent.
Book 1 - Discourses on Sustainable Development in Africa (edited by Maurice Amutabi)


Table of Contents

Dedication ii
Copyright iii
Acknowledgement iv

Introduction: The Making of Inventories about Africa
By Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi

Chapter 1
Prioritizing the Realization of the Right to Food in Africa: Lessons from the International Protocol of San Salvador
By Paul Adole Ejembi

Chapter 2
Marketing Management Theories and Promotional Campaigns in Zimbabwe Church Run Institutions Under Industrial Competitive Forces
By Earlmeth Chinyena & Innocent Mangwiro

Chapter 3
National Agricultural Services (NAADS) Programme and Commercialization of Agriculture for Poverty Reduction in Rwamucucu Sub-county of Rukiga District, Uganda
By Joseph Tindyebwa

Chapter 4
Demystifying the Relationship of Technology, Governance for Sustainable Development in Africa
By Gilbert Nyakundi Okebiro

Chapter 5
Embracing Accessibility and Adoption of Hybrid Maize Seed by Small Scale Farmers: A Case at Pentecostal Church Farms in Zimbabwe
By Earlmeth Chinyena, Everngelista Totai and Collen Kajongwe

Chapter 6
Dynamics of Globalization and Implications for Indigenous Religious Believers and the Moral Norms: Special Reference to Indigenous Rituals and Life Cycle Ceremonies
By Alexander Kavina




Chapter 7
Growth Points as Potential Hubs for Commercialization of Edible Stinkbugs (encosternum delegorguei) in Zimbabwe
By Bernard Chazovachii, Manasa Sibanda & Gerald Guta

Chapter 8
Urban Settlement Informality and Social Sustainability in Mutare, Zimbabwe
By Chazovachii Bernard,, Chindanya Andrew & Bodo Prince

Chapter 9
Dynamics of Gender Equity in Co-Education Schools in Tanzania: Assessing the Place of Re-branding in Feminist Theoretical Approaches
By Milka Otieno

Chapter 10
Tailored Approaches to Foster Sustainability in the Delivery of Community-Managed Projects: Empirical Evidence from the grass fields region of Cameroon
By Victor Agha-Ah Mah and Gabriel Bachange Enchaw

Chapter 11
Interrogating the Politics of Contemporary Livelihood in Gikuyu Erithi-Mugithi Poetry Performance and Implications on Social Cohesion and Integration
By Peter Muhoro Mwangi

Chapter 12
The Role of Youth as Social Change Agents in Poverty Eradication in Southern Africa: Implications for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
By Kabo Diraditsile and Boitumelo Pauline Mokoka

Chapter 13
Indigenous and Exotic Design for Development in Kenya: Identifying Possibilities and Limitations
By Donna Pido

Chapter 14
The Impact of Effective Human Resource Management Practices on Construction Project Performance in the Free State, South Africa
By Tumelo F. Makhaba, Tshepo M. S. Tsiane & Abejide S. O

Chapter 15
The Efficacy of Innovation Practices on Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe
By Kajongwe, Collen, Chinyena, Earlmeth




Chapter 16
Scaling up the Consumption of the Indigenous Foods as a Mitigation against Food Insecurity: Case of Mwingi West Sub-county, Kitui, Kenya
By Vundi Nason


Chapter 17
Church and State: Augustinian Political Discourse of Two Cities for Integrated Development in Africa
By Clement Chinkambako Abenguni Majawa

Chapter 18
Impact of Devolution on Sustainable Development in Kenya
By Lucy Wanjiku Musili

Chapter 19
Dynamic of Labour Court in Dispute Settlement in Zimbabwe: An analysis of the Effectiveness of Various Methods of Dispute Settlement in Labour Relations
By C. Kajongwe, E. Chinyena, Mutebuka, Itai, Gerald & Prof Tukuta Marian

Chapter 20
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Small and Medium Enterprises Performance in Zimbabwe
By Kajongwe, Collen & Chinyena, Earlmeth

Chapter 21
Influence of Push Dynamics on Youth Recruitment into Terrorism in Wajir County, Kenya
By Dekow Idow Adow & Solomon P. K. Muhindi

Chapter 22
Drug Abuse and its Effects to Muslim Youth and Implications on National Development
By Ibrahim Alhaji Abdullahi

Chapter 23
Prospects and Potential in Problem-Based Learning: a Transformative Instructional Approach in 21st Century for Sustainable Development
By Omollo David Otieno, Joanne Nabwire Lyanda and Dr. Raphael Ongunya

Chapter 24
Value-Based Leadership towards a Sustainable Pedagogy in Africa: Assessing Implications for Schooling in Kenya
By Joseph, K. Sambu & Jane, A. Chiroma

Chapter 25
Synthesis and Characterization of Prototype Formulated Particleboards from Agro-Industrial Lignocellulose Biomass Bonded with Chemically Modified Cassava Starch
By Millien Kawira, Jackson Muthengia & Kariuki Stephen

Chapter 26
Exploited Landscape and Anthropocentric Urbanity in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari and Implications on Environmental Discourses in Africa
By Dele Maxwell Ugwanyi

Since its rise to a prominent position as a key approach to understanding and explaining African politics, governance, and political economy, a number of critiques have been published on neopatrimonialism and its perspective
on African politics. This essay contributes to the emerging criticism of the neopatrimonial approach by addressing one of the key arguments of the theory concerning the intrinsic nature of African politics, its cultural underpinnings, and the ideas which form the basis of democracy and politics for the common
good in Africa. Although the underpinnings and ideational basis exist and are central to the dynamics of African politics, the neopatrimonial approach has treated them as nonexistent. In its discussion, this essay also describes the
sources and vital influence of African ideas on democracy and the common in African states.

Kenya is a peculiar State located in the East geographical part of the African Continent. It is a State that has been acknowledged of domesticating one of the most complex grundnorm around the world, save for United Sates of America’s grundnorm. The complexity of the grundnorm is experienced when one appreciates the facts before hand (the situation the Government of Kenya is in, since Colonization to this moment).
At the end of the second quarter of the year two thousand and ten (2010) The Government of Kenya promulgated a constitution dubbed as the “The New Constitution” or “Constitution 2010”. The lex document is termed as the Supreme Law of The Land it is second to none. It is not shy to dictate what alien laws can be invited within the Kenyan Jurisdiction.
A country having eight (8) provinces and forty seven (47) counties: the counties are in place to decentralize power from The National Government which was initially based in Nairobi, Kenya.
In the Constitution 2010 there are “new” elements that have been splashed on Kenyan citizenry. Most citizens lack the mere grip to understand its pros and cons and no one bona fide can give the pro and contra of the “new” elements to them; this is because, most interpretation are glued to the political wing of the Government or opposition. Owing to the fact that most Kenyans do not reason on their most prudent standing; thus, the reasoning is based on Political and/or Ethnicity, these are glued with emotions spurred by their catalytic leader(s). Hence, making such a definition and/or interpretation an impaired one and/or a blurry view.
Thus, herein, the paper will trace the rich history of Devolution from across the world. States that are regarded as commonwealth and/or Common Law States will be given upper hand: in the sense that, their rich history will be utilized as a guiding tool.
The lenses will be directed to:
i. How did the idea of  Devolution come into place
ii. Why was it necessary to have Devolution;
iii. How are county governments expected to be run;
iv. How are the scuffles between County and/or County Governments and National Governments quelled;
Thereafter, a special spectrum will be given towards the Government of Kenya. How has Kenya been since the year 1963 when it attained physical and/or political independence.
i. The Independence Constitution of Kenya; and
ii. The New Constitution 2010.
Herein, the provisions of the Constitution will not be delved into solo but by the use of both primary and secondary references. This will proffer an elaborative definition of the provisions of the Constitution 2010 and lex specialis that have been borne to address and/or expound on what County Governments entail.

Este artigo deriva de minha pesquisa de Mestrado Acadêmico, cujo um dos objetivos visa investigar a presença da narrativa vetero-testamentária da chamada maldição de Cam e Canaã, sua transmissão e circulação nos meios letrados afromuçulmanos da Costa Suaíli, no litoral oeste do Oceano Índico. A análise se dá a partir de traduções de três manuscritos em língua árabe, produzidos entre o final do séc. XIX e início do XX: duas versões do anônimo Kitāb al-Zunūj, além do Kawkab al-Durrīya al-Aḫbār Ifrīqīya, do shaykh Faḍīl Ibn cUmar al-Bawrī (m. 1913), notável de Malindi, no atual Quênia. Tais obras, que se inserem no gênero das crônicas históricas leste-africanas em língua árabe ou cajamī kiswahili, apresentam uma versão islâmica da maldição de Cam (Ḥām) e Canaã (Kancān), associada à descrição de determinadas sociedades bantu da África Oriental, a saber, os Miji Kenda, identificados no corpus textual pelo termo zanj - categoria étnico-geográfica de classificação de populações da África negra, canônica na geografia muçulmana clássica. Por trás desta derrogatória associação, reside o objetivo de seus autores em exaltar a “arabidade” da sociedade litorânea suaíli em detrimento do zanj interiorano, tido por infiel, não-civilizado e, sobretudo, escravizável. O mito camítico, transmitido ao Islã ainda no período medieval como narrativa não-confiável (taḥrif), opera nestas crônicas como um reforço ao status de inferioridade conferido a tais sociedades.

Women are a powerful development force making important contributions to the economy as entrepreneurs, workers and to the welfare of their families throughout Africa and in Kenya. However, inequalities in property ownership, discrimination in the labour market and other business-related obstacles hinder women from competing with men. It is against this backdrop that this study sought to examine women's empowerment on economic development in Kenya. Empowerment programs provide a channel for access to education, control of resources and to venture in productive activities which enable women to build a sustainable livelihood. The key focus of this study is on increase in literacy levels and education standards, increased life expectancy, increase in per capita income and improvement in levels of environmental standards by women. Secondary data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods whereby a total of fifteen (15) studies were reviewed that used different methods. Five (5) studies were conducted in Kenya and ten (10) others from different parts of the world that yielded varying results. Several themes emerged among them: education, access, empowerment, participation and control. This study revealed that women in development activities are faced with political, social and economic impediments influenced by socialization process for both sexes which determine the economic activities by women. For instance, women are perceived as homemakers and therefore they are socialized to care for their homes and children. This contributes to low self-esteem for women who are made to believe that they are inferior to men and can therefore not stand up for themselves. Therefore, women economic empowerment should involve programs that seek to improve the living standards of women through education, access to credit, employment and control over land and property rights. Interventions should analyze the interface between law and customary regimes to provide practical solutions to women weak rights to the property. This report will be useful to the Government departments in their efforts to formulate and implement gender policies, non-governmental organizations dealing with women's empowerment, Micro finance institutions in formulating their programs and the women in empowering themselves to work towards achieving self-sufficiency and improved standards of living.

The backdrop to the coup related to dissatisfaction in the military which centred on the air force. There was low morale and tribally motivated grievances.. The wider background was of declining living standards in Kenya with an increasing population size causing strains on urban resources and attendant high figures of unemployment, underemployment and crime.. Both Kenyan Special Branch and Kenyan Military Intelligence were aware of a brewing mutiny.. The mutiny kick-started in a chaotic and uncoordinated manner with bursts of gunfire unleashed by airmen at the air base within the old Embakasi Airport which is near Eastleigh Air Force Base. Both were taken over by the mutineers between 3-4am.