Notions of Nation in Nairobi's Nyayo-Era Monuments

Abstract

This article examines how, between 1983 (Kenya's 20^th anniversary of independence) and 1992 (the year Kenya became a multi-party state), the Kenya African National Union (KANU) used Nairobi's monumental landscape in a concerted effort to create a Kenyan postcolonial identity. The monuments erected in the capital city during these years of Moi's presidency (the Nyayo era) illustrate how the memory of the moment of independence was drawn upon in an attempt to unite the country's heterogeneous population through a Kenyan national identity. This memory was additionally mobilised through the use of independence anniversaries as lieux de mémoire in the inscription of these monuments into Nairobi's landscape. However, the memory was one chosen by the political elite, those who had the power to do so. While this group used its power to inscribe the landscape, it similarly used the inscription of the landscape to assert power. The political elite claimed the memory of independence to validate its authority and to associate itself with the independent country. The article examines how the abstract and metaphorical physical forms of Nairobi's Nyayo-era monuments form a postcolonial aesthetic in the city's monumental landscape and how this aesthetic was constructed to invite the wananchi (citizens) to participate in the celebration of the nation state.

Keywords:

• public monuments
• Kenya
• Nyayo era
• national identity
• nation-building
• sites of memory

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr Mark Hennessy, Professor David Taylor, Dr Lotte Hughes and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

In 2007 a statue of the Mau Mau freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi was erected in Nairobi (see Coombes 2011, this Special Issue).

Minutes of permanent secretaries meeting to discuss celebrations programme for 20^th Anniversary of Independence, Nairobi, 28 July 1982, Kenya National Archives (hereafter KNA) AHC/4/1.

Directorate of the 20^th Independence Anniversary Celebrations, Office of the President, Brief of the open design competition, KNA KA/11/8; same directorate, Report of Building, Works and Decorations Sub-Committee, Ministry of Roads, Public Works and Housing (hereafter MoW) BD01/0932D vol III.

Op. cit.

MoW BD01/1017C vol II:1.

MacDonald to Jomo Kenyatta (Prime Minister), Nairobi, 6 November 1963, KNA GH/4/24:68.

MacDonald, Nairobi, to Duncan Sandys (Secretary of State for the Commonwealth and Colonies), 9 November 1963, London, KNA GH/4/24:74.

Works and Decorations sub-committee meeting, Nairobi, 11 March 1983, MoW BD01/1017 vol II.

Daily Nation 14 December 1986.

Quoted in Daily Nation 10 December 1986.

Moghul, quoted in Daily Nation 10 December 1983.

Quoted in Daily Nation 14 October 1983.

Daily Nation 10 December 1986.

Anonymous source, Intergroup, interviewed Nairobi, 8 September 2005.

MoW BD01/0932D vol IV; Intergroup.

Op. cit.

Op. cit.

Op. cit. The fountain no longer works, and the water has dried up.

MoW BD01/0932D vol II; MoW BD01/0932D vol III.

MoW BD01/0932D vol III.

E.O. Nyamunga, Ministry of Public Works, to Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Political Affairs and National Guidance, Nairobi, 21 September 1988, MoW BD01/0932D vol III.

Anonymous source, Intergroup, interviewed Nairobi, 8 September 2005.

Op. cit; MoW BD01/0932D vol IV; MoW BD01/0932D vol II; Intergroup.

MoW BD01/0932D vol IV; Intergroup.

Quoted in Daily Nation 7 December 1988; and Standard 7 December 1988.

Ibid.

Anonymous source, Intergroup, interviewed Nairobi, 8 September 2005.

Text prepared by the Building, Works and Decorations sub-committee of the National Celebrations Committee, ‘The philosophy behind the monument’, MoW BD01/1017C vol II.

Standard 13 October 1988.

Dr Sylvester Maina, lecturer, Department of Design, University of Nairobi, Kenya. Interviewed at the Department of Design, 6 July 2005.

‘The philosophy behind the monument’, MoW BD01/1017C vol II.

Op. cit.

Op. cit.

Internal memo, Ministry of Public Works, Nairobi, 21 February 1990, MoW BD18/7346B:87.

John Kamau, East African Standard journalist, personal communication, 17 January 2006.

20 interviews with author, Nairobi city centre, July 2005.

Internal memo, Ministry of Public Works, Nairobi, 21 February 1990, MoW BD18/7346B:87.

Although these calls for the establishment of a TJRC were unsuccessful, one was later set up in 2008, largely prompted by that year's post-election violence.

Although Moi's presidency ended in 2002, Moi Day remained a public holiday in Kenya until 2010 with the ratification of the new constitution. This also saw Kenyatta Day replaced by Mashujaa Day (Heroes Day).

While sculpture, in various materials, and particularly figurative sculpture, is probably the most common form of visual art in Africa, sculpture among East African ethnic communities was traditionally ephemeral. A possible exception is the 20^th century memorial posts of Kenya's coastal region, vigango (Coote and Mack 1996; Geary 1996; Paden and Soja 1970).

Anonymous source, Intergroup, interviewed Nairobi, 8 September 2005.

Daily Nation 13 October 1988.