Britain and Kenya’s Constitutions, 1950–1960 By Robert Maxon

making and decolonization during the 1950s, which was marked by a similar lack of agreement among Kenya’s political elite.

The specific period for the constitutions examined in the book stretches from 1951 to 1960. In less than a decade, Kenya experienced the introduction of three constitutions. All were a product of the political, social, and economic context of colonial Kenya, but they particularly reflected the changing perceptions and goals associated with decolonization. The British government and Kenya’s colonial state set the pace in this process during the 1950s, but the ideals and aims of Kenya’s political elite also contributed to the working out of Kenya’s unique experience and the constitutions developed to facilitate it. For the British and Kenyan governments, this meant that an independent state should be controlled by people who would protect British material interests (including European farming), provide a stable government, and stand with Britain in a world divided by the Cold War. It was also a goal for those governments that stability would involve balancing the claims of the several racial and ethnic groups resident in the colony and the protection of minority rights.

During the 1950s, moreover, race was the defining issue for constitution making for the colony marked by what were perceived to be distinct racial groups and a racially defined political hierarchy. From the perspective of the colonial rulers, some of Kenya’s European politicians, and nearly all Asian political leaders, these factors called for a constitutional order characterized by what was termed multiracialism. The Lyttleton Constitution of 1954 and the Lennox-Boyd Constitution of 1957–1958 were based on multiracialism, a system to enable the sharing of political power among racially defined groups through the initiation of mixed government. However, these constitutions were constructed on an unequal basis—Kenya’s European settler population was given a predominant share of political power.

This book provides a detailed exposition of the processes of constitution making involved with the Lyttleton and Lennox-Boyd Constitutions. In both, the driving force behind the constitution-making process was the British and Kenyan governments’ desire to bring about a government with