The Role of Kenya Police Force in South Nyanza between the Two World Wars (1914-1945)

Abstract

Laws are formulated for the common good of society and the role of the police is to enforce law and order with impartiality. But in theory, it is not the practice. Those who have written about the role of the colonial police in Kenya have showered the police with praise. Historians have failed to analyze the role that the colonial laws, and the police who enforced them, played in that time. This study argues that colonial police force served imperial interests of the colonizer at the expense of the colonized African masses, class and racial differences were manifested through the role that law and police force played in colonial Kenya. By focusing on their role in South Nyanza between the two world wars, it shows that they were instruments of the ruling political elite and dominant economic classes used to oppress and exploit the African masses. Thus they controlled state affairs. The study will reveal the police force in the past in order to understand why the police force is today tainted with corruption unprofessionalism and inefficiency among other ills. The study applied historical design technique, and used sampling and snowball techniques too. Target population was residents of the area of study. The sample size considered age, knowledge and experience on the colonial rule and the police force. The African state theory by Jackson and Rosberg was adopted to help analyze the role of the police force between the two World Wars. The force grew from an armed guard to a state police. Their presence in South Nyanza was due to Germans presence in the area and conflicts among ethnic communities.