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Is the Kenyan Bureaucracy Developmental? Political Considerations in Development Administration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

J. R. Nellis
J. R. Nellis*
Affiliation:
Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
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Extract

In Kenya today there are a variety of conflicting views concerning the present performance and the proper societal role of the public bureaucracy--the civil service. Consider the following statements. On March 17, 1971, in the Parliament of Kenya, the Assistant Minister in the Office of the Vice-President, Mr. M. Shikuku, stated that “the foremost enemies of the wananchi (citizens) were the country's senior civil servants” (East African Standard, March 18, 1971, p. 1). Another M. P., Mr. M. J. Seroney, stated that a type of “silent coup” had taken place and that Government (meaning the Cabinet and the very top political leaders) had “silently taken the powers of the National Assembly and given them to the civil service.” Mr. Seroney termed the National Assembly “a rubber stamp of some unseen authority” (p. k).

On March 18 the National Executive Officer for Kanu (the Kenya African National Union, at present the sole legal political party in Kenya) announced:

As things stand today Kanu is virtually dead.… Practically all Kanu branches and sub-branches are not functioning.… Administrative officers from P.C.s downwards have assumed the role of party officials.… Civil servants have interfered so much with the party work that the party officials in the districts are left wondering whether the Kenyan Government is a political one or not (East African Standard, March 19, 1971, P. 9).

The National Executive Officer called for a restructuring of the system so that administrators would receive directives from the party.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , December 1971 , pp. 389 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1971

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