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

the direction of a member of the LegCo. Most of the latter were officials, but by 1951 two European unofficials had been appointed as members, one in charge of agriculture and the other finance.

Moving toward democracy in Kenya involved the creation of a different type of executive branch, in the form of a council of ministers, that would be democratically accountable to the colony’s people. In this process, the elected unofficials would come to exercise control over executive departments.²³ Here also, the model followed in constitution making until 1960 was that of the British- or Westminster-style executive branch. Ministers were chosen from elected members of the legislature. Eventually, a prime minister would be chosen as the leader having the support of the majority in the elected chamber, and official ministers would no longer play any part in the system. This is the stage normally referred to as responsible self-government. Such an executive system did not emerge before 1960.

As far as the composition of the executive was concerned, the key issue during the period covered by this study was to bring Asians and Africans into the executive branch. The CO and leadership of the colonial state saw the recast council of ministers as a means of establishing a mixed government. The goal was to create a multiracial executive system in which the leaders of Kenya’s racial groups would share power and work together to move Kenya toward the goal of decolonization.

In this process, democracy as described here was not seen by Londonor Nairobi as being as important as establishing institutional mechanisms for a racial sharing of political power. Democracy was, in this view, to emerge many years in the future. The short-term goal of constitutional reform was to promote cooperation through mixed government so as to reduce interracial tensions and barriers while allowing a gradual expansion of African participation in the legislature and executive. The longer-term goal of the British government was that in moving toward a democratic system, all who had made their homes in Kenya would be able to continue to live and to pursue their occupations in security.