A HISTORY OF THE DIRECT TAXATION OF THE AFRICAN PEOPLE OF KENYA, 1895-1973 A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Rhodes University by ISAAC KIPSANG TARUS February 2004 ABSTRACT This study examines the origin, the manifestation and impact of the direct taxation of Africans in Kenya. While the state had several reasons for imposing taxation on Africans, the basic factor weighed on the need for a definitive source of revenue. For most of the colonial period, this aggregated to about 37½ percent of the total revenues. The thesis shows how taxes were collected from Africans, how this led to participation in the cash economy and how they continually resisted and evaded such taxation. Tax collection was synonymous with colonialism and this was manifested through the central role of chiefs, who used taxes and force to coerce Africans into migrant wage labour. Through taxation policies, legislation and African resourcefulness, migrant wage labour served the needs of a colonial capitalist settler economy. In this way, the colonial state revealed its capacity for dominance, power and exploitation. Evidence has been adduced to show that African taxation was an important factor in Kenya’s administrative, political and economic development. The policy of African taxation, land loss and poor working conditions are remembered as having interfered with African mechanisms for accumulating wealth. One of the main objections of the payment of taxes was the manner of its collection. Those unable to pay were imprisoned or detained while many took to instant flight at the sight of the tax collector. The thesis shows that in spite of all these harsh tax collection methods, peasants remained largely resilient and industrious. The Mau Mau movement was the culmination of various peasant grievances in which the colonial state used steep taxation as a counter-insurgency measure. Kenya’s independence in 1963, however, never altered the predatory nature of the state. Subtle, opportunistic and overt ways continued to be used to extract taxes from the peasants and the working class. It was not until 1973 that the much-hated colonial poll tax that had been renamed as graduated poll tax was abolished and replaced by indirect taxation. Finally, taxation like other colonial legacies has endured and has become one of the most important sources of revenue for the government to manage its fiscal policies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II The Department of History at Rhodes University hosted me for more than four years and I would like to express my gratitude to members of staff and colleagues for support. My supervisor Prof. Julian Cobbing, with whom I had fruitful discussions and who asked several thought-provoking questions, gave his time and advice on the writing of the thesis. I am also grateful to Prof. Paul Maylam who not only admitted me into department, but also gave me support that was essential to complete the thesis. Dr. Julie Wells and Cherrie Charteris made me feel welcome in the department, solved a myriad of my problems and ensured that I was always on track. Financial support for this study came from a variety of sources. I am grateful to the Department of History, Rhodes University for awarding me a bursary. I thank family members and friends who met at Kaptagat Hotel and urged me down to Rhodes. But more than anybody else I owe my sanity to my trusted friend, Daniel Rono who ensured that I had adequate financial support. Various institutions came to my support at a crucial moment when I was doing the final write up and later during the revision of the thesis. I wish to gratefully acknowledge the support given to me by CODESRIA for their small grant for thesis writing and SEPHIS who gave me the opportunity to attend a workshop and a conference to discuss my work. I am also indebted to my employer, Egerton University who granted me study leave and to the staff of the Kenya National Archives who made available all the archival information required. Thanks too to my fellow Kenyans who are too numerous to mention for their inspiration to soldier on. Walimu Adar, Ajulu, Kim, Kariithi and Magda, ahsante sana. My colleague Felistus Kinjanjui helped me during a difficult period and I am truly grateful. My parents and siblings have been the source of support and perseverance that made this study possible. This work is dedicated to my wife Beatrice Chelagat and our children Sheila Chepkoech, Tracy Chepchirchir and Yvonne Cheruto whose support, encouragement and love sustained me throughout the long years of study. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE III Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv List of Abbreviations vii Tables viii CHAPTER ONE 1 THE STRUCTURE OF TAXATION IN KENYA: A BASIC ECONOMIC OUTLINE CHAPTER TWO 39 THE EARLY PHASE OF COLONIAL TAXATION IN KENYA, 1895-1913 Introduction 39 From company rule to protectorate status 40 Colonial budget and the reasons for African taxation 51 Kenya-Uganda railway and the coming of the white settlers 55 The introduction of hut and poll taxes, 1901-1910 61 Incidence and methods of tax collection 64 Early colonial taxation of Africans in urban Nairobi 80 Impact of hut and poll taxes 85 IV Conclusion 90 CHAPTER THREE 94 FIRST WORLD WAR AND THE BURDEN OF AFRICAN TAXATION, 1914-1923 Introduction 94 The war effort and African taxation 94 African livestock and colonial taxation policies 103 Chiefs and tax collection during the war period 111 Impact of taxation on Africans after the war 117 Conclusion 120 CHAPTER FOUR 122 PEASANT RESISTANCE TO TAXATION AND STATE RESPONSE, 1895-1923 Introduction 122 Tradition of peasant resistance to colonial taxation 123 Appraisal of Kenyan peasant tax revolts 127 Post-war African reaction to taxation, 1918-1923 141 Conclusion 147 V CHAPTER FIVE 149 THE MYTH AND REALITY OF TAXATION AND MIGRANT LABOUR, 1900- 1923 Introduction 149 The emergence of a migrant wage labour class 151 The 1912-13 Native Labour Commission 161 Forced Labour, Kipande and the Northey circulars 169 Conclusion 175 CHAPTER SIX 176 THE STRUGGLE OVER UBIQUITOUS TAXES, 1923-1947 Introduction 177 Double taxation and the Local Native Council 189 Inter-war period: Casting the net wider 193 Kodi stamps and the use in tax collection 201 The Second World War and African taxation 213 Conclusion 216 CHAPTER SEVEN 218 VI THE INSURGENCY PERIOD, TAXATION AND AFTERMATH, 1947-1963 Introduction 218 Brief survey of Mau Mau literature 219 The roots of Mau Mau revolt 222 Taxation as a counter-insurgency measure 229 Introduction of GPT and multi-racial taxation 232 Kenyatta: Facing the tax collector and the road to independence 238 The wind of change and the collapse of the colonial state 240 Conclusion 241 CHAPTER EIGHT 243 TAXATION IN EARLY POST-COLONIAL KENYA, 1963-1973 Introduction 243 Impact of tax coordination in East Africa 245 Taxation and the budgetary system 247 African response to post-colonial taxation 253 Marketing boards and resource mobilization 256 Taxation payment and the sell of liquor 259 VII Harambee as a form of coerced taxation 261 Financing local authorities through taxation 266 Conclusion 272 CHAPTER NINE 274 CONCLUSION 274 BIBLIOGRAPHY 282 ABBREVIATIONS ADC African District Council BAR Baringo CNC Chief Native Commissioner CMS Church Missionary Society DC District Commissioner EAS East Africa Standard ELGM Elgeyo Marakwet FIN Finance GRS Garissa GPT Graduated Personal Tax IBEAC Imperial British east Africa Company KAR Kenya African Rifles KANU Kenya African National Union KCA Kikuyu Central Association KAU Kenya African National Union KRA Kenya Revenue Authority KBU Kiambu VIII KIK Kikuyu KLFA Kenya Land and Freedom Army KMC Kenya Meat Commission KNA Kenya National Archives KPU Kenya Peoples’ Union KTWA Kavirondo Taxpayers Welfare Association LNC Local Native Council MAA Ministry ofAfrican Affairs MBT Marsabit MKS Machakos MUR Muranga NFD Northern Frontier District NKU Nakuru NYA Nyahururu Rs Rupees Shs Shillings PAYE Pay As You Earn PC Provincial Commissioner PWD Public Works Department YKA……………Young Kikuyu Association TABLES Table 1 Lord Moyne’s tax figures by racial classification, 1932 (pounds) 5 Table 2 Receipts from Main heads of Taxation 1920-1939 (£000) 10 Table 3 Protectorate trade and administrative budget ((£000) 45 Table 4 Military expenditures 47 Table 5 Agricultural exports from Kenya from 1908-1913 (tonnes in thousands 50 Table 6 Revenue and Expenditure for 1906-1907 54 Table 7 Malindi Hut Tax figures (£) 73 IX Table 8 Machakos District Taxation (£000) 1901-13 75 Table 9 Nairobi hut and poll tax Revenue, 1905-14 84 Table 10 Total Nairobi Revenue, 1905-1911 86 Table 11 African contribution to the Colonial Revenue in Direct Taxes (Rupees 91 Table 12 Tax figures for various provinces during the period, 1913-18 99 Table 13 Oxen for Military purposes, Machakos District, 1915-1919 106 Table 14 Keiyo tax figures for the period 1912-1919 109 Table 15 Census of Keiyo livestock in 1922 111 Table 16 Keiyo chiefs and tax collection for the year 1919-1920 (rupees) 116 Table17 British military operations and livestock confiscated, 1893-1911 130 Table 18 Malindi locational labour statistics in 1916 (in hundreds) 162 Table 19 Total number of Africans employed in wage labour, 1922 162 Table 20 Comparative educational expenditure for different races 185 Table 21 Local Native Council’s expenditure on education 187 Table 22 Nyanza Province LNCs expenditure in 1938 188 Table 23 Comparative Local Native Council revenues, 1945 192 Table 24 Tax collection figures in Central