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

Authors

  • Mary Bhoke Douglas
  • Prof. Mildred A. Ndeda
  • Dr. Samwel Okuro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v8i10.1549

Keywords:

Colonial, Police, Role, South Nyanza.

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.

References

(a) Secondary Sources

Azarya, V. (1988) “Reordering State-Society Relations: Incorporation and Disengagement,” (in) D. Rothchild and N. Chazan eds., The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa, Boulder: Westview Press.

Barker E.E. (1974). A Short History of Nyanza, Nairobi: East African Literature Review (Kenya).

Cokumu, P.O, (2012). ‘The Luo Under the British.’ in P.O Cokumu; J.A Akallah & W.R. Ochieng, AHistory of Western Kenya in the 20th&21st Centuries. Kisumu, Mountain View publishers, August.

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1926) Kenya Police Department Annual Report 1926, Nairobi: Government Press

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1927) Kenya Police Department Annual Report1927, Nairobi: Government Press

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1928) Kenya Police Department Annual Report 1929, Nairobi: Government Press

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1929) Kenya Police Department Annual Report 1928, Nairobi: Government Press

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1933) Kenya Police Department Annual Report 1933, Nairobi: Government Press

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1934) Kenya Police Annual Report, 1934, Nairobi: Government Press

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1943) Kenya Police Annual Report, 1939-1944, Nairobi: Unpublished report.

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1944) Kenya Police Annual Report, 1939-1944, Nairobi: Unpublished report

Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1945) Kenya Police Annual Report, 1939-1944, Nairobi: Unpublished report

East African Protectorate (1913) Ordinances and Regulations Vol. XV, January 1st-December 31st 1913. Nairobi: Government Printer, pp. 11-12

Maxon, R. M. (1989) Conflict and Accommodation in Western Kenya: the Gusii and the British. Rutherford: Failegh Dickson University Press

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Sharkey, H. J. (2013). African colonial states. In J. Parker & R. Reid (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of modern African history (pp. 151-170). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(b) Archival Sources

KNA, DP/17/320 Land, Native land tenure, Kenya Land Commission Evidence 1932

Kenya National Archives, DP/17/320 Land, Native land tenure, Kenya Land Commission Evidence 1932

Kenya National Archives, DC/KSI/1/21 Annual Report- South Kavirondo 1959

Kenya National Archives, PC/NZA/4/5/7 Intelligence reports south Kavirondo 1930-1933

Kenya National Archives, DC/KSI/1/2 South Kavirondo Administration annual report 1913-23

Kenya National Archives, DC/KSI/1/3 South Kavirondo District Annual reports 1924-32

Oral Interviews

James Beka, (106 years old) of Nyakoe village of Kisii County, interviewed on 22nd August, 2015.

John Mburu,(79 years old) of Mwata village of Kisii County, interviewed on 24th August, 2015.

Marwa Ogora,(75 years old) of Mchebe, Masaba village of Migori county interview done on 18th August, 2015.

Nyambega, (83 years old ) of Getare village, Kisii county interviewed on 28th August, 2015.

David Ntabo (75 years old) of Riana, Kisii County interviewed on 25th August, 2015.

Edward Nyabera (72years old ) of Kehancha, Migori County interviewed on 4th January, 2015

Al Haji Ramadhan(50 years old) of Daraja Mbili kisii county interviewed on 16th August, 2015

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Published

2019-10-12

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