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Nation Versus Region in Kenya: a Note on Political Learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

David Court  and
Kenneth Prewitt
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Extract

In the literature on new nations, much attention has been given to the threat to nationhood posed by cultural and linguistic variations, rather less to the political repercussions of the regional inequality with which such variations are often associated. Regional disparities in resources and services inherited at independence tend to be compounded by policies which stress growth rather than equity. Given that such imbalances are not easily or speedily corrected by means of compensatory economic policies – even if the will exists – the political vulnerability of governments to regional disaffection is bound up with the question of whether it is possible for a common national outlook to be superimposed upon regional variation. The purpose of this brief Note is to test two hypotheses which relate to this question against Kenyan data and experience.

Type
Notes and Comments
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , January 1974 , pp. 109 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

1 For summaries of this literature see Dawson, J. and Prewitt, K., Political Socialization (Boston: Little Brown, 1969)Google Scholar, and Merelman, R. M.,‘The Adolescence of Political Socialization’, Sociology of Education, XLV (1972), 134–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 The best known advocate of this view is Philip Foster. See Foster, P., Education and Social Change in Ghana (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965).Google Scholar See also , A., ‘Making Men Modern: On the Causes and Consequences of Individual Change in Six Developing Countries’, American Journal of Sociology, LXXV (1969), 208–25.Google Scholar

3 ‘National Goals’, Kenya Ministry of Education (Mimeo), 1972.Google Scholar

4 Report of the Commission of Inquiry, Public Service Structure and Remuneration Commission, (Nairobi: Government Printer, 1971).Google Scholar

5 The survey data are drawn from the Kenya segment of the East African Education and Citizenship Project. A general description of the project as well as related papers can be found in Prewitt, K., Education and Political Values (Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1971).Google Scholar In Kenya the questionnaire was administered to 1,210 secondary students at a national sample of twenty-three schools. The exclusion of Nairobi leaves a sample of 1,124 students divided between the provinces as follows: Central, 303; Rift Valley, 147; Eastern, 211; Coast, 112; Western, 129; Nyanza, 222.

6 The question asked was: ‘Here are some jobs in Kenya. Which of them would you like to do when you finish your education?’ The jobs presented were: Farmer with one acre of coffee, Accounts Clerk in a Government Ministry, Garage Mechanic, Assistant Agricultural Officer, Secondary School Teacher, Shop Owner.

7 Students were presented with a list of jobs and asked to rank them in answer to the following question: ‘Which do you think are the three most important jobs to help the development of Kenya?’ The jobs listed were: Politician, District Officer, Factory Worker, Teacher, Businessman, Policeman. Farmer, Nurse, Scientist.

8 Students were asked to indicate on a four point scale the intensity of their agreement with the proposition: ‘The developed part of Kenya should get less money in order that the underdeveloped parts can be improved’. A similar index provided response categories for the question: ‘Tick the box which best describes how much the government does for you and your family’.

9 The actual item stated: ‘Which sentence do you like more? (1) It is not good for Kenya when people criticize the government and its leaders, (2) People should be allowed to say or write whatever they want about the government.’

10 It is likely that students’ consciousness of regional deprivation or benefit is heightened by the explicit or implicit lessons conveyed by their teachers. Although teachers in Kenya are allocated on a national basis regional origin is taken into account in postings. Thus for example in Nyanza schools Nyanza teachers are a significant presence and are likely to reinforce the impression that Nyanza is not getting its share of national resources.