Kenya: Between hope and despair, 1963-2011

Abstract

Books that purport to explain Kenya's inner dynamics in the hope of shaping public perceptions of what is and should be their outcome can be interesting. The latest in this line is Daniel Branch's potentially authoritative study. This potential is undermined by inaccuracies, minor and major, and a tendency to gloss over events, thereby hiding the essence of the story. As a result, the running theme of Kenyan politics appears to be Kikuyu acquisition and abuse of power and the sidelining of the Luo. In the process, the book ends up reading like a refurbished version of Kikuyu-bashing scholarship that can be traced back to Z. A. Marsh and G. Kingsnorth's Introduction to the History of East Africa (1957, third edition 1965). In part, this may be because Branch seems to be awed by Luo historians Bethwell Allan Ogot and E. S. Atieno Odhiambo. His work seems like an expanded version of Ogot's ‘Siege of Ramogi’ essay in Building on the Indigenous: selected essays, 1981–1998 (1999). It starts and ends with an Odinga: Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya's first Vice-President, and then his son, Raila Odinga, Kenya's current Prime Minister. Branch throws the Kikuyu in between, and makes them responsible for all sorts of mischief.

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