Frontier transformations: development visions, spaces and processes in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

African approaches to development have shifted, particularly in north-eastern Africa. Donor-driven policies have given way to state-led development ‘visions’, often with a focus on large-scale infrastructure projects – feeding into and reflecting ‘Africa Rising’ discourses. In Kenya and Ethiopia, these visions include flagship projects in the geographical frontiers, areas previously viewed as buffer zones, whose people have been historically marginalised. This paper adapts the analytical framework from James Scott’s Seeing Like a State in order to compare Kenya’s and Ethiopia’s state visions, and to understand the risks to the populations intended to benefit from such visions from the unintended (but predictable) consequences such projects have had in the past.

KEYWORDS:

• Kenya vision 2030
• Ethiopia growth and transformation plan
• frontier infrastructure
• development
• LAPSSET

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the contributors for their participation in the various events which have shaped the collection, as well as the British Institute in Eastern Africa for its support; the collection is linked to its ‘Bio-cultural frontiers’ research theme. Christopher Clapham and Michael Jennings provided helpful feedback on the collection at an early stage. Jason is grateful to Daniel Branch, Ngala Chome and Jeremy Lind for influencing his thinking on these themes over the past five years, and acknowledges DDG Kenya for supporting fieldwork in Lamu County in 2015. Elizabeth acknowledges the support of the Leverhulme Trust for fieldwork which influenced this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Jason Mosley http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8218-4701

Elizabeth E. Watson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1344-1860

Notes

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2. For example, Carmody, “An Asian-driven Economic Recovery”; Mohan, “Beyond the Enclave”.

3. Mawdsley “DFID, the Private Sector”.

4. For an exception see Power, “Angola 2025”.

5. See for example, Christine Lagarde’s speech at IMF conference, 2014. http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2014/052914.htm (Accessed 22 November 2016).

6. Barber, Imperial Frontier; Reid, Frontiers of Violence. Donham and James, The Southern Marches; James et al. Remapping Ethiopia; Schlee and Watson, Changing Identifications.

7. Catley et al., Pastoralism and Development.

8. Menkhaus “Conflict Assessment”; Okumu, “Resources and Border Disputes”.

9. Government of Kenya, Vision 2030: Development Strategy, 8.

10. Cross, Dream Zones; Elliott, “Planning”.

11. Buffavand, “The Land”.

12. Kochore, “The Road”.

13. Elliot, “Planning”.

14. Greiner, “Land-use Change”.

15. Cormack, “Pastoralist Heritage”.

16. See also Makki, “Development by Dispossession”.

17. Scott, Seeing Like a State.

18. Ferguson, “Seeing Like an Oil Company”.

19. Gilman, Mandarins of the Future.

20. Li, “Beyond ‘the State’”, 383.

21. Mitchell, Rule of Experts.

22. Bridge, “Resource Geographies”.

23. The following framework is drawn from Scott, Seeing Like a State, 2–5.

24. http://www.vision2030.go.ke/index.php/vision/ (Accessed 23 February 2016).

25. http://eastafricanchamber.org/attachments/article/64/Kenya%20Vision%202030.pdf (Accessed 23 February 2016).

26. Linehan, “Re-ordering the Urban Archipelago”, 25.

27. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRJ9S9rKKcQ (Accessed, 11 January 2016).

28. http://eastafricanchamber.org/attachments/article/64/Kenya%20Vision%202030.pdf (Accessed 23 February 2016).

29. http://www.vision2030.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Popular_Version1.pdf; see also Kochore, “The Road”; and for comparison Power, “Angola 2025”.

30. See for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BXGh0EYJtE (Accessed 3 March 2016).

31. Wamware, “As a Taxpayer”.

32. FDRE, The Second Growth. Electronic copy in author’s possession.

33. http://www.france24.com/en/20150502-down-earth-ethiopia-green-renaissance-dam-climate-railway-environment (Accessed 11 January 2016).

34. Fourie, “China’s Example”.

35. Lefort, “The Ethiopian Economy”.

36. Vaughan, “Revolutionary State-building”, 623; see also, Bach, “Abyotawi Democracy”, 650–651.

37. Scott, Seeing Like a State, 4.

38. Cited in Fratkin, “Ethiopia’s Pastoralist Policies”.

39. Government of Kenya, Vision 2030 Development Strategy, 12.

40. Dereje and Hoehe, Borders and Borderlands; Catley et al., Pastoralism and Development.

41. Donham and James, Southern Marches.

42. Reid, Frontiers of Violence.

43. Eshetu, Underdevelopment in Ethiopia.

44. James et al., Remapping Ethiopia.

45. Dereje, “Aid Negotiation”.

46. Mosley, “Peace, Bread and Land”, 12; See also Branch and Mosley, “Why East Africa’s Borders”.

47. Markakis, Last Two Frontiers.

48. Vaughan, “Revolutionary State-building”. See also Clapham, Transformation and Continuity and Markakis, Last Two Frontiers.

49. Turton, “Wilderness, Wasteland or Home?”

50. Kamski, “Kuraz Sugar Development Project”.

51. Oba, Shadows of Empires.

52. Whittaker, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency.

53. Browne, “LAPSSET”.

54. Branch and Mosley, “Why East Africa’s Borders”.

55. Kenya Revenue Authority, “Fourth Quarter and July-June Revenue Report 2013–14.” July 15, 2014. http://www.kra.go.ke/notices/pdf2014/Revenue%20Performance%20Report%202013%20-%2014%20FY.pdf.

56. Otieno, “Devolution and Peace”; see also Kimenyi, “Devolution and Resource Sharing”.

57. Chome, “Devolution for Development”.

58. For a concise summary of the motivations behind the Kenyan intervention, see Anderson and McKnight, “Kenya at War”. See also Branch and Mosley, “Why East Africa’s Borders”; Totolo, “Kenya’s ‘Economic’ Conflict”; Think Security Press, “National Security Profile”, especially 57–60; Kabukuru, “Why Kenya is Fighting”; and Rosen, “Strategic Posture Review”. See also, Anderson, “Why Mpeketoni Matters”.

59. Abbink, “Land to the Foreigners,” 514–515.

60. Kamski, “Kuraz Sugar Development Project”.

61. Lavers, “Patterns of Agrarian Transformation”.

62. Buffavand, “The Land”; see also, Tewolde and Fana, “Implications of Sugar Development” and Asnake and Fana, “Expansion of the Sugar Industry”.

63. Enns, “The Master’s Tools”.

64. Full Resettlement Action Plan Summary. http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Project-and-Operations/RAP_summary_Sirima_Village_Lake_Turkana__Wind_Power_Project.pdf (Accessed 22 November 2016).

65. http://siplf.org/en/Background/ (Accessed 2 March 2016).

66. Government of Kenya, Community Land Act, 2016.

67. Enns, “The Master’s Tools”, 12.

68. Ferguson, “Seeing Like an Oil Company”.

69. Ibid., 379.

70. Ibid.

71. http://www.nrt-kenya.org/nrtandtullow/ (Accessed 1 March 2016).

72. http://www.nrt-kenya.org/nrfaqs/ (Accessed 1 March 2016).

73. Ibid.

74. Adams, Against Extinction.

75. Hutton et al., “Back to Barriers”.

76. Greiner, “Unexpected Consequences”.

77. See Save Lamu website: http://www.savelamu.org/about-us/ (Accessed 25 October 2016).

78. Interview with Sanye villager, near Amu Ranch, 27 February 2015; Interview with CBO activist, Lamu Town, 28 February 2015; Interview with CBO leader, Lamu Town, 2 March 2015.

79. See Praxides, “6000 Lamu Squatters”.

80. See Bocha and Kazungu, “Offices, Vehicle Burnt”.

81. Korf et al. “Respacing the African Drylands”.

82. Elliott, “Planning”.

83. Greiner, “Land-use Changes”.

84. Cormack, “Pastoralist Heritage”.

85. Schlee and Shongolo, Pastoralism and Politics; Watson, “Hardening of Lines”.

86. Blomley, “Law, Property”.

87. Scott, Seeing Like a State, 7.

88. McIlwaine, “Civil Society”.

89. Scott, Seeing Like a State, 49.

90. Sharp et al., “Entanglements of Power”.

91. https://www.savelamu.org (Accessed 24 March 2016).

92. http://www.friendsoflaketurkana.org (Accessed 24 March 2016).

93. http://siplf.org/en/Home/ (Accessed 24 March 2016).

94. Cormack, “Pastoralist Heritage”.

95. Patey, “Oil Upstart”.

96. Cormack, “Pastoralist Heritage”.

97. Hall et al., Powers of Exclusion, 171.

98. Daily Nation. http://www.nation.co.ke/counties/Lapsset-surveyors-Isiolo/-/1107872/2960044/-/qcl210z/-/index.html (Accessed 5 April 2016); Cormack, “Pastoralist Heritage”.

99. Blomley, “Law, Property”

100. Greiner, “Land-use Change”.

101. Buffavand, “The Land”.

102. Adams, Wasting the Rain.

103. Oxford English Dictionary.

104. Oxford English Dictionary.