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'Good Forest' in Kenya, C.1890-1963

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1 The pursuit of the ‘good forest’ in Kenya, c.1890-1963: the history of the contested development of state forestry within a colonial settler state. Ben Paul Fanstone University of Stirling PhD History Submitted 27th October 2016 Author’s declaration The work contained in this thesis is entirely my own. The views expressed are entirely my own, and not those of the University of Stirling. 3 Abstract This is a study of the creation and evolution of state forestry within colonial Kenya in social, economic, and political terms. Spanning Kenya’s entire colonial period, it offers a chronological account of how forestry came to Kenya and grew to the extent of controlling almost two million hectares of land in the country, approximately 20 per cent of the most fertile and most populated upland (above 1,500 metres) region of central Kenya . The position of forestry within a colonial state apparatus that paradoxically sought to both ‘protect’ Africans from modernisation while exploiting them to establish Kenya as a ‘white man’s country’ is underexplored in the country’s historiography. This thesis therefore clarifies this role through an examination of the relationship between the Forest Department and its African workers, Kenya’s white settlers, and the colonial government. In essence, how each of these was engaged in a pursuit for their own idealised ‘good forest’. Kenya was the site of a strong conservationist argument for the establishment of forestry that typecast the country’s indigenous population as rapidly destroying the forests. This argument was bolstered against critics of the financial extravagance of forestry by the need to maintain and develop the forests of Kenya for the express purpose of supporting the Uganda railway. It was this argument that led the colony’s Forest Department along a path through the contradictions of colonial rule. The European settlers of Kenya are shown as being more than just a mere thorn in the side of the Forest Department, as their political power represented a very real threat to the department’s hegemony over the forests. Moreover, Kenya’s Forest Department deeply mistrusted private enterprise and constantly sought to control and limit the unsustainable exploitation of the forests. The department was seriously underfunded and understaffed until the second colonial occupation of the 1950s, a situation that resulted in a general ad hoc approach to forest policy. The department espoused the rhetoric of sustainable exploitation, but had no way of knowing whether the felling it authorised was actually sustainable, which was reflected in the underdevelopment of the sawmilling industry in Kenya. The agroforestry system, shamba, (previously unexplored in Kenya’s colonial historiography) is shown as being at the heart of forestry in Kenya and extremely significant as perhaps the most successful deployment of agroforestry by the British in colonial Africa. Shamba provided numerous opportunities to farm and receive education to landless Kikuyu in the colony, but also displayed very strong paternalistic aspects of control, with consequential African protest, as the Forest Department sought to create for itself a loyal and permanent forest workforce. Shamba was the keystone of forestry development in the 1950s, and its expansion cemented the position of forestry in Kenya as a top-down, state-centric agent of economic and social development. 5 Acknowledgements I've become indebted to numerous people during the course of researching and writing this thesis. Most particularly, I've enjoyed never-ending support and patience from my wife, Ja-Ying, and my mother, and brother. My son, Andrew, was born when this project was just a few months old itself. While enduring countless weekends of daddy working in the office, he’s brought endless joy and laughter as an antidote to the stresses and sleepless nights from which any PhD student suffers. My supervisors, Phia Steyn and Paul Adderley, have provided constant support and advice through long meetings. Phia has given me the intellectual freedom to follow my own path while her rigorous scrutiny of my work has ensured that that path has never taken me too far into the land of pure conjecture. The Arts and Humanities Research Council funded this project, and thanks must be extended to them for this. Also, the British Institute in East Africa not only partly funded my fieldwork in Kenya but were also excellent hosts during my stay there. Ted in particular very kindly enabled me to explore some of the forests of the country. The Royal Forestry Society very generously funded the majority of my stay in Nairobi through their Randle Travel Fund and their very keen interest in my historical study was a large source of motivation and warmly received. The Royal Scottish Forestry Society were similarly enthusiastic about my study and were of great help in tracking down foresters who used to work in Kenya. Sadly, most of the colonial foresters who worked in Kenya have now passed on and their stories, experiences, and lessons lost. Truly, this is a study that should have been conducted a decade ago. At Oxford, Ollie Bridle, librarian for biology and forestry, was of tremendous assistance in rooting out forestry publications from the colonial era. In the KNA, Richard Ambani’s assistance in expediting the retrieval and locating of mysteriously missing documents was absolutely invaluable. Just as with so many works within Kenya’s historiography, without his help this project would surely have floundered. Likewise, the staff at the Kenya National Archives, Alfred Anangwe, and the archivists at the National Archives (Kew) were of tremendous help. A great deal of moral support has come from the small but diverse postgraduate community within history and politics at Stirling. First mention must go to Shaun, whose wit, satire, and always unexpected observations about the world and history have been a constant source of delight. Katy has kept me fuelled with chocolate and incredible banter. Helen has been an amazing comrade in arms and a superb sounding board, as have Nicola, Andrea, and Vicki, while Sven has enlivened many a conference. History might usually be written in isolation, but it is truly the product of friendships and the support of countless others. Contents 7 Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Contents ................................................................................................................................................................. 7 List of tables and figures .................................................................................................................................. 9 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 The Kenyan ‘good forest’ ............................................................................................................................................ 11 Historiographical Context .......................................................................................................................................... 13 Research Framework ................................................................................................................................................... 22 From the Abominable Jungle to the Scientific Forest Plantation c.1890 to 1925 ............. 29 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 29 Exploring the Jungle .......................................................................................................................................... 29 1.2.1 Forest Destruction ..................................................................................................................................... 32 1.2.2 Forest Destroyers? ..................................................................................................................................... 37 Establishing Forestry ........................................................................................................................................ 41 1.3.1 The Railway ................................................................................................................................................. 44 1.3.2 German East Africa ................................................................................................................................... 46 1.3.3 Forestry to what end? .............................................................................................................................. 48 Replacing African Forestry ............................................................................................................................. 49 1.4.1 Alien Forestry .............................................................................................................................................. 54 The Struggle for Colonial Forestry .............................................................................................................. 54 1.5.1 Constraining the Budget ........................................................................................................................
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