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The Collapse of a Regional Institution: The Story of the East African Railways within the East African Community, 1967-1977 Patrick / Whang / WHNPAT001 A minor dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Economic History Faculty of the Humanities University of Cape Town 2016 COMPULSORY DECLARATION This work has not beenUniversity previously submitted inof whole, Cape or in part, Townfor the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature: Date: 1 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Acknowledgements I would first like to begin by thanking my supervisor, Dr. Michelle Sikes, for her patience and guidance in helping me to navigate the process of developing this dissertation and also helping me discover my academic voice. I have learned so much from her in such a short period. In helping me find appropriate primary sources, I have to thank two people. One is Mr. Anniel Njoka who is a staff librarian at the Daily Nation newspaper in Nairobi. His experience with navigating the news archives and also working with researchers made my task much easier in exploiting this wonderful resource. The second person is Mr. Richard Ambani who works at the Kenya National Archives. He has been working in the archive section since before Kenya’s independence and is himself a part of the history that he expertly maintains. Asante sana Mzee. I would also like to share my appreciation for several other individuals for their support to me during this journey. They include: Tom Cunningham (University of Edinburgh), Kevin Donovan (University of Michigan), Valerio Venturi (University of Cape Town), and to the staff at the British Institute in East Africa. Last but definitely not least, I wish to give my greatest thanks and love to my wife Laura. Throughout this entire journey she has never wavered in her devotion to my personal pursuit of studying history. I could not have done this without you. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract...................................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 6 Framework ............................................................................................................................. 7 Historiography .......................................................................................................................12 Sources .................................................................................................................................19 Chapter Outline .....................................................................................................................21 CHAPTER 2 The Development of the East African Railways ...............................................24 The Development of the East African Railways in Colonial Period .........................................27 Pre-Independence: Colonial Period Challenges to the Railways............................................30 EARC Management Structure & Challenges .........................................................................33 The Program to Dieselize the EARC .....................................................................................40 Africanization .........................................................................................................................43 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................48 CHAPTER 3 The Downfall of the East African Railways ...........................................................50 Attempts to Rationalize Railway Services ..............................................................................50 The Paradox of Decentralization ............................................................................................56 The Financial Crisis of 1974 ..................................................................................................60 The End of the East African Railways ....................................................................................64 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................67 CHAPTER 4 Conclusion: Coming Full Circle - The East African Railways ..............................69 Post-EARC Period .................................................................................................................71 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................74 3 Abstract This dissertation examines the deterioration and collapse of the East African Railways Corporation (EARC) during the time of the East African Community (EAC), 1967-1977. The EARC has a long history that stretched back to the beginnings of colonial settlement in the East African region. It survived two world wars and a global economic depression, but just a few years after the independence of East African nations in the early 1960s, the EARC rapidly disintegrated. This then leads to the main project question: What were the causes that contributed to the collapse of the EARC? In order to address this question, I traveled to Nairobi in June 2015 to explore two archival sources: the Kenya National Archives and the Kenya National Railway Museum Archives. Both proved to be an invaluable repository of primary source material. In particular the main documents found were the business records describing the operations of the EARC during the period in question. In addition, with the help of a librarian at the Daily Nation newspaper in Nairobi, I was able to access archived newspaper articles on the EARC dating back to the years of interest. With this data and along with secondary source material, I conducted an analysis that triangulated these sources to provide a holistic picture of the events that affected the EARC. The narrative therefore demonstrates that while many factors contributed to the failure of the EARC what ultimately determined this were the nationalistic tendencies of representatives of EAC member states that overcame any centripetal forces of regional unity. There were also several events that precipitated the downfall of the EARC but ultimately it was the financial crisis of 1974 that proved decisive. This so-called crisis stemmed from a failure of each region to remit funds toward headquarters to be able to continue rail operations. This episode could not be blamed solely on foreign exchange concerns as some scholars have claimed. Instead the crisis exposed the long simmering national divisions that had manifested during this period. Each of the EAC partner states desired equitable treatment. When some perceived that they could not receive this through the operations of regional institutions such as the EARC, they engaged in actions that paralyzed EARC operations. This culminated in the complete fracturing of the EARC by 1977. 4 Since the end of the twentieth century, the EAC has been reborn and even expanded upon to include new member states beyond the original three of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The East African Railways have also risen from the ashes and in late 2013, the initiation of the expansion on the existing rail lines to reinvigorate the railways commenced. But have the lessons of the EARC been learnt to avoid a repeat of the emergence of regional disunity that caused its collapse? It remains to be seen. 5 CHAPTER 1 Introduction It is not uncommon for a country to create a railway, but it is uncommon for a railway to create a country. - Sir Charles Elliot1 This dissertation is an exploration into the deterioration and collapse of the East African Railway Corporation (EARC) as a regional institution during the time of the first East African Community (EAC). The latter began in 1967 and ended with the demise of both institutions by 1977. Most scholarly work during this period has focused on the EAC and attempted to understand the concatenation of factors which led to its disintegration. Mention of the East African Railways has been mainly consigned to passing references to its failure as an institution within the broader EAC. The railways have often been treated as a monolithic entity with little understanding of what role individuals played within the organization. Therefore, this study will explore in some depth how the management of the East African Railways dealt with, or attempted to deal with, forces that contributed to its eventual breakup. This will be accomplished by examining several major issues arising during