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

It is for this reason that the book gives considerable attention to the British role in constitution making. This indicates that the Conservative Party Secretaries of State of the period—Oliver Lyttleton, Alan Lennox-Boyd, and Iain Macleod—played leading roles as negotiators and arbiters in the development of constitutional ideas. However, the initiation of these ideas largely came from the permanent officials (civil servants) at the CO concerned with Kenya. Primary impact on the process came from those serving in the East African Department (EAD), but key roles were played by assistant undersecretaries responsible for African affairs, such as William Gorell Barnes and W. L. Monson. The CO was not the ultimate arbiter of British constitutional policy toward Kenya, of course. The prime minister and British cabinet served as final decision makers, as is illustrated in the narrative.

The leadership of the colonial state also had an important impact in the evolution of British constitutional policy. Although imposed by the respective SofS, the Lyttleton and Lennox-Boyd Constitutions were largely authored by Sir Evelyn Baring, Kenya’s governor from 1952 until 1959. At the first Lancaster House conference, in contrast, the leader of the colonial state played little part in devising the constitution eventually imposed.

Through extensive use of archival records, this book sets out in particular to provide a thorough investigation of that portion of the constitution-making equation responsible for imposing successive constitutional settlements together with the parts played by varied groups and individuals. The account exposes the fallacies and myths that have characterized previous scholarly and nonscholarly accounts of the constitutional history of the period. It will reveal the inner workings of the 1960 Lancaster House conference, providing for the first time a definitive account of the conference and its outcome.

In focusing on these episodes of constitution making, this volume gives the factors discussed earlier in the chapter due consideration. To accomplish this successfully, it is important to set the stage for the 1950s and for the changes after 1951 by looking at the background in the previous decade. This is addressed in the following chapter.