https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1476-0644
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ABSTRACT
On 15 July 1961, the first eight African officers were commissioned into the King’s African Rifles in Kenya. This was very late to begin Africanising the colonial military force. The colonial army, even more than other institutions, was neither anticipating nor preparing for independence until it was imminent. Then, Africanisation was dramatically sped up to try and match political progress. This article explores how the first African officer corps was created in Kenya. Using lists of commissions published in The Kenya Gazette, it shows what types of people were commissioned, focusing on ethnicity, age, experience, training, education, and promotion. Three types of servicemen were commissioned: effendis, with years of colonial experience; non-commissioned officers, who were briefly trained in Britain and rapidly promoted; and direct-entry officers, better educated, younger, and trained in Britain. The article argues that the opportunities that military decolonisation and Africanisation offered to these varied groups of men had an impact which lasted for decades, as these first commissioned officers became and remained the leaders of Kenya’s military. Understanding the process of Africanisation therefore helps to explain the trajectory of Kenya’s military after independence.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Timothy Parsons, Justin Willis, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of the text, as well as the editors as JEAS.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The Kenya Gazette, 4 June 1963, 614–615.
2 Wyss, Postcolonial Security, 187–188.
3 Whitaker, “‘New Model’ Armies,” 77.
4 Ibid., 77.
5 Cullen, Kenya and Britain.
6 Stockwell, British Empire, 63–73; Parsons, Army Mutinies, 50–64.
7 Brooks, “British Colonial Armies,” 82.
8 Stockwell, British Empire; Mawby, End of Empire.
9 See for example Hutchful, “Army Officer Corps,” 164.
10 Lieutenant-Colonel Charles W. Ivey, response to Aide Memoire, Bodleian Library, Oxford (henceforth BL), MSS.Afr.s.1715 (146) (Box 6).
11 See Osborne, “Paul Ngei,” 196–210.
12 Cullen, Kenya and Britain, 124–125.
13 Mawby, End of Empire, 52–63; Ejiogu, “Colonial Army Recruitment,” 117–119; Thomas, “Tanzanian People’s Defense Force,” 5–6. On Kenyan officers in potential coups see Hornsby, Kenya, 227–229.
14 See Page, King’s African Rifles; Moyse-Bartlett, King’s African Rifles; Parsons, African Rank-and-File.
15 More relevant exceptions are unpublished: Brooks, “British Colonial Armies”; Whitaker, “‘New Model’ Armies”.
16 See Parsons, African Rank-and-File; Brands, “Wartime Recruiting,” 103–125.
17 Parsons, Army Mutinies; Mazrui and Rothchild, “Soldier and State,” 82–96; Parsons, “Lanet Incident,” 51–70.
18 Osborne, Ethnicity and Empire.
19 Parsons, “Wakamba Warriors,” 671–701.
20 Osborne, Ethnicity and Empire, 237.
21 Initially, Nyasaland was also included, but not by the period discussed here.
22 Clayton and Killingray, Khaki and Blue, 247. There were some Sudanese NCOs in the late nineteenth century precursor to the KAR, but this practice had been discontinued: Parsons, “Kibra Is Our Blood,” 88, 96.
23 Abdulrahman and Mang, “Nigerian Army,” 26.
24 Stockwell, British Empire, 245–246. On the comparison between East and West Africa, see Lee, African Armies, 38–43.
25 Hutchful, “Army Officer Corps,” 163; Wyss, Postcolonial Security, 152.
26 Stockwell, British Empire, 245–246.
27 See Osborne, “Kamba and Mau Mau,” 63–87.
28 Whitaker, “‘New Model’ Armies,” 47–48.
29 Kings African Rifles, Report by the Working Party on Terms of Service for Officers, 17 March 1954, The National Archives, Kew (henceforth, TNA) WO 32/15674/1B.
30 Governors Commissions in East African Forces, [1956], TNA WO 32/16565/5A.
31 Page, King’s African Rifles, 229.
32 Governors Commissions in East African Forces, [1956], TNA WO 32/16565/5A.
33 Brigadier Macnab to Brigadier Dalton, 16 July 1957, TNA CO 968/666/E1(a).
34 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, effendi (derived from Greek authentēs, meaning ‘master’) is a ‘Turkish title of respect, chiefly applied to government officials and to members of learned professions’. It was first used by the British as a Warrant Officer rank in the Anglo-Sudanese forces, and also used by the Germans in East Africa: Thomas, “Tanzanian People’s Defense Force,” 66.
35 Introduction in East Africa of the Senior Warrant Officer Rank of “Effendi”, DPA to DMT, 14 February 1956, TNA WO 32/16565. Those scholars who have discussed the effendi have generally not recognised either the racial underpinning of the rank’s creation, or the effendis’ long-term significance as set out later in this article.
36 Appendix ‘A’, Introduction of the Senior Warrant Officer Rank of Effendi, 14 February 1956, TNA WO 32/16565.
37 Commander-in-Chief, East Africa to Under-Secretary of State for War, 7 September 1956, TNA WO 32/16565/5A.
38 Appendix ‘A’, Introduction of the Senior Warrant Officer Rank of Effendi, 14 February 1956, TNA WO 32/16565.
39 Colonial Office Report on the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya for the year 1956 (London: HMSO, 1957).
40 Selection of Candidates for a Regular Commission in the General List King’s African Rifles, June 1961, KNA CE/12/1/4.
41 See Rothchild, “Kenya's Africanization,” 738. Those Africans who were most educated were the Kikuyu, who were excluded from joining the KAR due to Mau Mau.
42 Transcript of an interview with Brigadier Percy William Powatt Green by William Beaver, 25 October 1979, BL, MSS.Afr.s.1715(118) (Box 5).
43 Colonial Office Report on the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya for the year 1957 (London: HMSO, 1958). White Kenyans already attended Sandhurst for commissioning into the British Army.
44 Colonial Office Report on the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya for the year 1958 (London: HMSO, 1959).
45 Extract from notes of meeting with the Minister of State for Colonial Affairs in Government House, 10 April 1959, TNA CO 822/1650/7.
46 Minute to Major Majendie, 4 November 1958, TNA CO 968/666/13.
47 Brigadier Macnab to Brigadier Dalton, 16 July 1957, TNA CO 968/666/E1(a).
48 Defence Secretary Tanganyika to Permanent Secretary EALFO, 2 November 1957, TNA CO 968/600/37.
49 Parsons, Army Mutinies, 90–92.
50 Future of East African Land Forces, Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 15 January 1960, TNA CAB 129/100/4.
51 Minute, Sankey to Buist, Vile, 21 September 1960, TNA CO 968/911.
52 Memorandum by the General Officer Commanding East Africa Command, ‘African Officers in the KAR’, 27 September 1961, TNA CO 968/723/E/15.
53 Ellerton to Neil, 15 June 1961, KNA OP/1/802/6.
54 Colonial Office Report on the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya for the year 1961 (London: HMSO, 1963).
55 Lieutenant-Colonel Vernon to Neil, 31 August 1961, KNA OP/1/802.
56 3rd Bn The King’s African Rifles, Historical Report for the Period 1 April 1961–31 March 1962, TNA WO 276/495.
57 Lieutenant-Colonel Henry K.P. Chavasse, response to Aide Memoire, [1979], BL, MSS.Afr.s.1715(42) (Box 3).
58 Memorandum by Major W.H. Reeve, [1979], BL, MSS.Afr.s.1715(225) (Box 15).
59 Memorandum by General Officer Commanding East Africa Command, ‘African Officers in the KAR’, 27 September 1961, Annex ‘B’, TNA CO 968/723/E/15.
60 Ibid.
61 Clayton and Killingray, Khaki and Blue, 261.
62 Memorandum prepared by Minister for Security and External Relations, ‘Plan for training officers for 4th KAR’, 30 September 1961, TNA CO 968/723/E53.
63 Extract from minutes of 22nd meeting of East Africa Defence Committee, 21 October 1961, TNA CO 968/912/142.
64 Ibid.
65 See Sethi, Shaping Destiny, 216–218.
66 Telegram, Troopers to Force Nairobi, January 1962, TNA CO 968/723/E40(ii)
67 Telegram, Force Nairobi to Troopers, no date [January 1962], TNA CO 968/723/E40(i).
68 Major Troughton to Colonel Adler, 10 May 1962, TNA CO 968/723/59.
69 Minute, Derx to Armitage-Smith, 7 August 1962, TNA CO 968/723.
70 Extract from East Africa Defence Committee, minutes of the twenty-fifth meeting, 9 May 1963, TNA CO 968/791/3.
71 Information in this section comes from: Nominal Roll of Officers in the KAR units as at 26 August 1963, 9 September 1963, TNA FCO 141/7037/4/2; List of Sandhurst trained and Mons trained Kenyan soldiers provided by archivists at Sandhurst; The Kenya Gazette, 5 February 1963, 127; The Kenya Gazette, 4 June 1963, 614–615; The Kenya Gazette, 7 January 1964, 6; The Kenya Gazette, 11 August 1964, 871; The Kenya Gazette, 13 October 1964, 1148; The Kenya Gazette, 15 December 1964, 1418–1419; The Kenya Gazette, 22 March 1966, 305; The Kenya Gazette, 3 February 1967, 85. There were also two Europeans and one Asian who had been trained at Sandhurst and are not included in the analysis below.
72 Ages are calculated based on approximate ages recorded by British officials. As birth dates are not recorded, they may not be exact.
73 Parsons, “Dangerous Education,” 112.
74 Ibid., 127.
75 Chavasse, BL, MSS.Afr.s.1715(42) (Box 3).
76 Lieutenant-Colonel Henry N. Crawford, response to Aide Memoire, [1979], BL, MSS.Afr.s.1715 (55) (Box 3).
77 Parsons, “Dangerous Education,” 127.
78 Lee, African Armies, 36.
79 Opande, In Pursuit of Peace, 54.
80 Ibid., 54.
81 It should be noted that individuals could change how they thought about their ethnicity and the labels they used to identify themselves. The figures in this section are based on what they told British officials about their ethnicity. See Parsons, “Being Kikuyu,” 65–86.
82 Parsons, “Wakamba Warriors,” 693.
83 The Tribal Structure of The King’s African Rifles/Kenya Army, Memorandum by the General Officer Commanding, 9 September 1963, TNA FCO 141/7037/4/2.
84 Nominal Roll of Officers in the KAR units as at 26 August 1963, 9 September 1963, TNA FCO 141/7037/4/2; Cabinet Committee on Kenya’s Future Army, 21 August 1963, TNA FCO 141/7037/2.
85 Cabinet Committee on Kenya’s Future Army, 21 August 1963, TNA FCO 141/7037/2.
86 Ibid.
87 See Clayton and Killingray, Khaki and Blue, 224.
88 Brooks, “British Colonial Armies,” 114–115.
89 Osborne, “Paul Ngei,” 202–203.
90 The policy for promotion of African Officers in the Kenya Army, 18 November 1963, TNA FCO 141/6982/245.
91 Ibid.
92 See Major Abdi Rahaman, 11 Kenya Rifles, Lanet, KNA AG/16/343/1; 2nd Lieutenant Daudi Rerimoi Chepkong’a Tonje, 11 Kenya Rifles, KNA AG/16/343/4.
93 Parsons, Army Mutinies, 88.
94 Ibid., 149–151.
95 Exactly what they were loyal to can be questioned: certainly, to the army and their superior officers, but whether this translated into loyalty for Kenyatta himself, or his government, is perhaps more debatable. See Parsons, Army Mutinies, 84.
96 The Kenya Gazette, 3 February 1967, 85.
97 Parsons, “Lanet Incident,” 67.
98 Clayton and Killingray, Khaki and Blue, 265.
99 Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers of the General List King’s African Rifles Commissioned direct from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and for Cadets Under Training as Potential Officers, June 1961, KNA CE/12/1/2.
100 See Kenya Gazette issues in note 71 above.
101 Parsons, Army Mutinies, 170–173.
102 Telegram from Nairobi to CRO, 17 November 1964, TNA DEFE 25/20/5.
103 Hornsby, Kenya, 144.
104 On Kenya and the Cold War see Cullen, “Cold War Politics,” 37–54.
105 Brooks, “British Colonial Armies,” 158.
106 Katumanga, “Mirror Images,” 137–138.
107 Parsons, Army Mutinies, 159.
108 Branch, “Loyalists,” 29.
109 Tayleur, Defence Adviser’s Quarterly Report, March 1971, TNA FCO 31/868/1.
110 Annual report on Kenya by Colonel Begbie, Defence Adviser Nairobi, 22 April 1974, TNA DEFE 71/135/2.
111 Colonel Southerst, Defence Adviser’s Annual Report on Kenya, 18 March 1987, TNA FCO 31/5169/3. There were also two Air Force and Navy Generals and three Air Force and Navy Brigadiers.
112 Hornsby, Kenya, 335–336.
113 Sethi, Shaping Destiny, 50. See also Opande, In Pursuit of Peace, 40–42.
114 See Abdulrahman and Mang, “Nigerian Army,” 26–27; Mawby, End of Empire, 58.