Kanu Manifesto And Policy Document

Since independence from Great Britain in 1963, Kenya has survived five decades as a functioning nation-state, holding regular elections; its borders and political system intact and avoiding open war with its neighbours and military rule internally. It has been a favoured site for Western aid, trade, investment and tourism and has remained a close security partner for Western governments. However, Kenya's successive governments have failed to achieve adequate living conditions for most of its citizens; violence, corruption and tribalism have been ever-present, and its politics have failed to transcend its history. The decisions of the early years of independence and the acts of its leaders in the decades since have changed the country's path in unpredictable ways, but key themes of conflicts remain: over land, money, power, economic policy, national autonomy and the distribution of resources between classes and communities.While the country's political institutions have remained stable, the nation has changed, its population increasing nearly five-fold in five decades. But the economic and political elite's struggle for state resources and the exploitation of ethnicity for political purposes still threaten the country's existence. Today, Kenyans are arguing over many of the issues that divided them 50 years ago. The new constitution promulgated in 2010 provides an opportunity for national renewal, but it must confront a heavy legacy of history. This book reveals that history.

The struggle between socialism and capitalism in Kenya has been long, bitter and violent. Capitalism won with the active support of USA and UK governments at the time of independence in 1963. Yet the original (1960) Kenya African National Union (KANU) Party was in favour of socialism. It was Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi who used violence to suppress those advocating socialism. They used their power to massacre, assassinate, exile, imprison and disappear people and created a state of terror to silence their opponents. Capitalism became the unstated state policy. Thus, imperialism won and the aims of Mau Mau were brutally suppressed. However, the desire for socialism never died. Resistance movements and opposition parties made socialism their aim, reflecting peoples desire for justice, equality and empowerment. Many studies on Kenya focus on personalities or tribes' or race as driver of events, ignoring the all-important class and ideological positions of leaders and their Parties. Two Paths Ahead reproduces and comments on the documents from the opposing sides in the battles between capitalism and socialism the original Kenya African National Union (KANU), its successor, KANU-B, and the Kenya Peoples Union (KPU) on economy, land, labour, and social policy. It also touches upon the demands of the organisers of the 1982 Coup and traces the political stand of key leaders as proponents of capitalism or socialism. The final section reproduces some of the documents on this ideological struggle. The book exposes the hidden hand of imperialism in the countrys rush to capitalism. It fills a gap in understanding the real contradictions that divide Kenya to this day.

This volume of thirteen original essays provides a timely analysis of African foreign policies in a post–Cold War environment where African marginalization from the global economy appears to be increasing. Three thematic essays give an overview of critical changes occurring in African foreign policies, and ten country-by-country case studies provide specific analyses of decisionmaking, intraregional relations, and the struggles over policy with external agencies, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. African Foreign Policies offers explanations for how African states are adapting to the international challenges of the late twentieth century.

Highlights the struggles of a group of women from rural Kenya to provide educational opportunities for their children.