Development over the Last Century – Kenya

Introduction

Kenya is a third world country located in East Africa, compared to nations such the UK and the US, Kenya is relatively a young nation. This country came to international limelight in the late 19th century, when the British took control over it (CIA, 2014, p. 1). During the British reign over the nation, there was not much development in the country. Instead, the Kenyan society became poor and highly stratified (Okoth, 2003, p. 1). This paper examines the development of Kenya over the last century (20th century) taking into account five of the development indicators that are used by the World Bank (2014) in rating the development of nations. The development indicators to be used in this research paper are economy and growth, education, gender issue, infrastructure, and poverty (World Bank, 2014, p. 1).

Economy and Growth

In the first half of the 20th century, the economy of Kenya was dominated by the British. At the beginning of the century, white settlers flowed freely into the country to take advantage of the fertile soil in order to practice agriculture. By 1901, the British had constructed a railway line and road networks to ease transportation of farm production (Okoth, 2003, p. 1). White settlers had advanced loan facilities, agriculture, and veterinary services. The main interest of the British was acquisition of land. As a result, over 7 million acres of land were expropriated from the locals. By 1930, there were about 30, 000 white settlers in Kenya; and by the 1950s, they had shot up to 80,000. To ensure that the interests of the white settlers were protected, the law of series was instituted in order to disadvantage the natives. It included the introduction of Hut Tax on housing and Poll Tax on vo...

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...Social Sciences, 3(9), 123-145.

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