Kenya and the Politics of a Postcolony is a careful recollection of the historical and contemporary Kenyan political events that have shaped the East African country's politics. The author convincingly justifies why he wrote the 10-chapter book, arguing that Kenyan politics deserves to be researched because the country has the largest economy in East and Central Africa, and has remained relatively peaceful since attaining independence from the British in 1963. This is despite the region's periodic civil strife and political turmoil. Arguably, the book's greatest strength lies in the author's ability to tap into his own international experience. He uses his global exposure to accurately draw parallels between global perspectives and local contexts in Kenya's politics since the colonial period. Although many people argue that politics is local, the book contextualises the Kenyan political history within the region and the globe. However, it is precisely because of such strengths that weaknesses are encountered. For instance, the reader may feel that more emphasis could be given on how these local contexts shape the global contexts discussed. That notwithstanding, the book uses a simple narrative style with accessible language. For instance, it accurately historicises the 19th century European involvement in African and Kenyan affairs using what King Leopold of Belgium analogised as ‘sharing the magnificent African cake’ (chapter 1, p. 1).
The book persuasively uses historical political events to project the future. It offers a rich account of how African economics informs politics, including a detailed description of Kenya's colonialisation; a discussion on how Ethiopia remained uncolonised and a projection on new colonialism in Africa by China (chapter 9). It asserts in chapter 1 that all contemporary African states except Ethiopia are products of European colonialism. Among the most interesting discussions in the book is how Liberia technically remained a US colony, even as some people think it was not colonised. Comparatively, the author advances the idea that Kenya inherently remained a ‘British colony’ after independence (chapter 9, p. 8). This is especially implicit through the book's categorisation of European forms of colonialism in terms of settler, non-settler and assimilation. Fundamentally, the late founding Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta and other ‘political elite’ did not restructure the British institutions upon independence (chapter 10, p. 1). Instead, they used the structures to amass wealth including the land left behind by settler colonialists. The author describes this perpetrated neo-colonialism as ‘the betrayal of anti-colonial nationalism’ (chapter 3, p. 2). He observes that ‘the nature of contemporary Kenya's political culture, social structure, and political economy, complete with the structure of privilege and poverty, is very much a product of the country's colonial origins’ (chapter 3, p. 22). The colonial structure created social inequalities especially along ethnic lines which have resulted in the country's volatile electoral politics. Although well-articulated in the book, perhaps the issue of ethnicity, which largely informs Kenya's local context politics, could be engaged further and more directly linked to global politics. For instance, colonialists used ethnic profiling beyond Kikuyu and Luo ethnicities to marginalise and/or empower communities, so as to advance their colonial agenda that shaped global politics. The book accurately reflects that the dictum which mirrored the liberation struggles in Kenya saying ‘we either hang together or are hanged separately’ was soon abandoned by the ruling elites (chapter 3. p 1), who retreated to their ethnic enclaves. For instance, chapter 4 documents how Kenyatta consolidated political power by abolishing political parties. Implicitly, the parties’ followers belonged to other ethnicities, which he regarded as ‘radical’ (chapter 4, p. 1). This resulted in the rise of civic nationalism that acted as the official opposition to provide checks on his dictatorial presidency. Immediately after Kenyatta, the late President Moi popularised his government as Nyayo – a Swahili word that loosely translates to a government that followed Kenyatta's footsteps (chapter 5). The book's discussion that Kenyatta and other elite politicians grabbed land at independence can be loosely compared to the contemporary politics where money is prioritised over fundamental issues (chapter 6). The author is explicit that the quest for material wealth at the expense of ideology results in national betrayal and wanton corruption, prompting people's protests against governments’ poor service delivery. The late President Mwai Kibaki who took over from Moi perpetrated corruption through privatisation of parastatals. Then came President Uhuru Kenyatta who perpetrated corruption through grand government projects such as Dams and Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) construction, and public service provision during the COVID-19 period (chapters 6 and 7). That said, the historical injustices in Kenya inadvertently culminated in the promulgation of the 2010 constitution which arguably marked the country's rebirth (chapter 8).
While the book's strength remains the accurate contextualisation of Kenya's colonial and neo-colonial politics, it adopts a somewhat panoramic view of events making it appear to the reader that more details could be given about the various local contexts that informed the national and global politics discussed.
