THE KENYA COAST: A REGIONAL STUDY Dick Foeken, Jan Hoorweg & RA Obudho The East African Coast extends from the Horn of (Frazier, 1993). Far north, in the Lamu archipelago, Africa to halfway down Mozambique; an approxi- the coastline consists again of near-shore islands, mate distance of 3000 km, The semi-desert in bays, creeks and large mangrove forests. Somalia is followed by forests, coconut groves, scrub The definition of the Kenya Coast as used in this lands and grasslands interspersed by the estuaries of monograph includes seven districts, Taita Taveta, the large rivers reaching the Indian Ocean. In many Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi, lamu and the lower ways the Kenya Coast resembles the rest of the East part of Tana River District (Figure 1.1, p. 4).1 This African Coast more so than the interior of Kenya region covers an area of roughly 150 by 450 km and with its extended savannahs and mountain ranges. accounts for more than 2 million people or about The Kenya Coast is situated immediately south 10% of the national population. of the equator; it covers a distance by air of some The Kenya Coast forms a distinct region of the 450 km while the actual length of the sea front is country. A region is generally defined as "a sub- around 600 km. In the far south there are extensive national division of space, delimited in terms of one mangroves and coral reefs with near-shore Islands. or more criteria" (Simon 1990a: xv). Such criteria can Mombasa Island straddles a creek System with natu- be of several kinds: physical delineation, population ral harbours on both sides. Rugged coast follows distribution, economie activities, politica! divisions northwards with the deep water creeks of Mtwapa and socio-cultural characteristics (Sada 1993). The and Kilifi and the shallow Mida creek. The reef ends Kenya Coast meets several of these criteria and is a at Malindi which is halfway up the coast. Along distinct region in this geographical sense. Distance Ungwana Bay, landscape and habitation of the and climate are important factors-, the region is di- Northern Coast change profoundly. The beaches are vided from the rest of the country by an extended long and sandy, open to the sea with rolling break- and dry zone, the Taru desert. The tropical monsoon ers; the narrow coastal plain widens and extends far climate is different from the rest of the country with inland (Hoorweg 1998). The land is sparsely inhab- ited. It consists of dunes and scrub Vegetation, inter- l This definition differs from that of Coast Province as administrative unit since it includes small parts of rupted by the Tana River delta with wetlands and Eastern and North-Eastern Province while it excludes mangroves and the limestone cliffs of Ras Shaka the rest of Tana River District. 3 Foeken, Hoorweg & Obudbo SUDAN X ETHIOPIA North . Eastern \ Central i 'v \ Nairobi TANZANIA LEGEND > Coast Province StudyArea International boundary Provincial boundary Figure 1.1 Coast Province and study area The Kenya Coast 5 the kazkazi and kusi seasons (North-East and economie growth with a spatial perspective. At pre- South-East monsoon, respectively). In terms of his- sent, development and regional development have a torical and social developments, the area is also dis- much broader meaning, "a multifaceted process tinct despite great interna! divisions. whereby the quality of life and 'personality' of indi- For many centuries, the coastal region was the viduals and groups improves" (Simon 1990a: xiv). In most economically developed part of what now con- other words, development differs from mere eco- stitutes Kenya. This was a trading economy, the nomie growth (Omuta & Onokerhoraye 1986). coastal centres serving as trading links between the Recently, the element of control and management immediate hinterland and various trading destina- of resources has come to be included. In 1995, tions. The overseas dhow trade covered the East UNDP defined (human) development as the broad- African Coast as well as the Middle East and present- ening of the options that people have in order to im- day India. Many small trading centres flourished prove their livelihoods and determine their future. along the coast of which Lamu, Malindi and Mom- Four years later, human development had simply be- basa are best known. Mombasa ultimately devel- come "the process of enlarging people's choices" oped into the main port; it has the best natural (UNDP 1999:16). Development then embraces all harbour of Kenya, probably the best of the whole social, cultural, economie and politica! aspects of life, East African Coast. quantitative as well as qualitative in nature. With the start of colonial administration in 1895, Regional development concerns physical, infra- little changed at first. Mombasa served as headquar- structural as well as human resources. Early on, ters of the British East Africa Protectorate (Ndua physical resources were seen as the main determi- 1992). In 1901 the railway from Mombasa reached nants of development - factors such as geology, Lake Victoria. A few years later, Nairobi became the land forms, sous, climate, hydrology, Vegetation and capital, situated inland which is quite unusual for fauna. Infrastructural resources include energy, wa- African coastal states. Subsequently, development ter, transport and Communications as well as factors efforts by the colonial govemment concentrated in- such as housing and distribution networks. Over creasingly on the areas with white settlers in the in- time, human resources have come to be considered terior. The importance of the Kenya Coast was nar- essential; the key variable in this respect is what is rowed to that of Mombasa as a transit point for per- called the quality of the labour force. The latter de- sons and goods. Broadly speaking, the relative ne- pends not only on educational and occupational glect of the Coast continued to present days. Hence, skills, but also on elements such as social customs, despite the apparent wealth along the beaches and the influence of climate on human comfort and en- the presence of Kenya's major port in Mombasa, the ergy, diet and nutrition, as well as health (Omuta & Coast finds itself in a comparatively disadvantaged Onokerhoraye 1986). position compared to central Kenya. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Two main approaches to regional development have During the 1960s, regional development and devel- come to be recognised, essentially the difference opment in general were more or less equated with between centralised and decentralised strategies, economie development. Friedmann (1964), for in- conveniently labelled as 'topdown' and 'bottom-up' stance, defined regional development simply as approaches (Obudho 1988; Simon 1990b; Simon Foeken, Hoorweg & Obudho 1992). The 1970s saw a shift in attention towards the During the 1960s, the growth centre or growth rural areas and witnessed the rise of integrated rural pole theory was widely accepted as the basis for re- development programmes. Many of these pro- gional planning in less developed countries. An acti- grammes proved to be only partially successful and vated expansion of certain industrial sectors in se- one of the major objectives, self-sustainability, was lected urban centres would stimulate development hardly ever reached. Consequently, in the 1980s the in the surrounding hinterlands. The positive spread emphasis shifted to "the interdependence and sym- effects were expected to outweigh the negative biosis of the rural and urban" (Baker & Pedersen 'backwash' effects such as the destruction of local 1992: 12). The growth of small urban centres is industries and the ensuing loss of employment. seen as a necessary condition for rural transforma- However, the results of this planning model, by and tion (Baker & Claeson 1990). large, have been disappointing (Bloch 1990; Simon 1990b). In many cases, the growth centres became KENYA AND THE KENYA COAST or remained 'islands' in impoverished environs. Re- Regional development planning in Kenya reflects cent top-down strategies tend to aim at curbing the the above described changes. The 1970s indeed growth of the large metropoles and instead focus on saw a shift from development concentrated in the development of small and intermediate centres. Nairobi and Mombasa, to 'selective concentration' on An example is Kenya's development centre policy nine intermediate urban centres. Nakuru, Kisumu, (Nyakaana 1995; Obudho 1988). Thika, Eldoret and others were designated as One of the major complaints against the growth (industrial) growth centres (Nyakaana 1995). pole strategy was that the poorer groups were not During the 1980s, planning focus shifted further to given special attention (Van der Hoeven 1987). As a achieve a so-called 'rural-urban balance'. Small and reaction, the so-called basic needs policy was devel- intermediate centres were expected to"(...) relieve oped. "Development 'from below' considers devel- the population pressure in the countryside, provide opment to be based primarily on maximum mobili- less congested and populated urban living in the saüon of each area's natural, human, and institutional primate city, (...) increase the modemisation spin-off resources" (Stöhr & Taylor 1981:1-2). The objec- which urban centres provide to the surrounding rural tive is to provide the poor with basic needs, i.e., the areas, and provide a better Integration with the eco- minimum levels of nutrition, safe drinking water, nomy of the rural hinterland" (Obudho, Akatch & shelter, hygiëne, health care and literacy, amongst Aduwo 1988:165). others, with the ultimate aim for the poor not just to Concurrently, the District Focus Policy for Rural survive but to improve their living Situation (Simon Development was launched in 1983. The objectives 1990b). A 'strong' basic needs policy requires that of this policy were threefold, namely to delegate the the poor be central or, in other words, that the poor operational responsibility of rural development to must be empowered. This implies fundamental the districts, to increase productivity and effective- changes in the division of power in the society.