CAUSES OF PERSISTENT RURAL POVERTY IN THIKA DISTRICT OF KENYA, c.1953-2000 A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Of Rhodes University By Felistus Kinuna Kinyanjui January 2007 i ABSTRACT This study investigates the causes of poverty among the residents of Thika District in Kenya over the period 1953-2000. Using the articulation of modes of production perspective, the study traces the dynamics of poverty to the geography, history and politics of Thika District. The thrust of the argument is that livelihoods in the district changed during the period under investigation, but not necessarily for the better. Landlessness, collapse of the coffee industry, intergenerational poverty, and the ravages of diseases (particularly of HIV/AIDS) are analysed. This leads to the conclusion that causes of poverty in Thika District during the period under examination were complex as one form of deprivation led to another. The study established that poverty in Thika District during the period under review was a product of a process of exclusion from the centre of political power and appropriation. While race was the basis for allocation of public resources in colonial Kenya, ethnicity has dominated the independence period. Consequently, one would have expected the residents of Thika District, the home of Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, to have benefited inordinately from public resources during his rule. Kenyatta’s administration, however, mainly benefited the Kikuyu elite. The study therefore demonstrates that during the period under examination, the Kikuyu, like any other Kenyan community, were a heterogeneous group whose differences were accentuated by class relations. Subaltern groups in Thika District therefore benefited minimally from state patronage, just like similar groups elsewhere in rural Kenya. By the late 1970s, the level of deprivation in rural Kenya had been contained as a result of favourable prices for the country’s agricultural exports. But in the subsequent period, poverty increased under the pressures of world economic recession and slowdowns in trade. The situation was worse for Kikuyu peasants as the Second Republic of President Daniel Moi deliberately attempted undermine the Kikuyu economically. For the majority of Thika residents, this translated into further marginalisation as the Moi regime lumped them together with the Kikuyu elite who had benefitted inordinately from public resources during the Kenyatta era. This study demonstrates that no single factor can explain the prevalence of poverty in Thika District during the period under consideration. However, the poor in the district devised survival mechanisms that could be replicated elsewhere. Indeed, the dynamics of poverty in Thika District represent a microcosm not just for the broader Kenyan situation but also of rural livelihoods elsewhere in the world. The study recommends land reform and horticulture as possible ways of reducing poverty among rural communities. Further, for a successful global war on poverty there is an urgent need to have the West go beyond rhetoric and deliver on its promises to make poverty history. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii LIST OF FIGURES, MAPS AND TABLES v ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x INTRODUCTION 1 I: THIKA IN THE CONTEXT OF KENYA’S POLITICAL ECONOMY 14 The Colonial Period, 1895-1963 21 Patrimonialism Under Kenyatta, 1963-1978 25 Patrimonialism Under Moi, 1979-2002 37 II: THE ROOTS OF POVERTY: LAND REFORMS AND REDISTRIBUTION IN THIKA DISTRICT, 1953-2000 . 51 Land Ownership in the Colonial Period, 1895-1954 52 Land Reform: The Swynnerton Plan of 1954 56 The Effects of Land Reforms, 1955-2000 62 III: FOOD POVERTY: TRANSFORMATION IN SUBSISTENCE FARMING IN THIKA DISTRICT, 1953-2000 84 The Transition Period ,1953-63 86 Agricultural Production in the Post-Colonial Period: Prospects and Problems 1964-80 89 Politics of Patrimonialism and Challenges of Liberalisation, 1981-2000 98 IV: A ‘FRUITLESS TREE’: THE EXPERIENCES OF POVETRY AMONG SMALL-SCALE COFFEE FARMERS IN THIKA DISTRICT, 1953-2000 118 The Origins and Expansion of Coffee-Farming by Africans, 1953–1974 119 The Coffee Boom, 1975-79 131 The Collapse of the Coffee Industry, 1980-1991 137 V: WORKING AND LIVING CONDITIONS OF COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURAL WORKERS IN THIKA DISTRICT,1953-2000 158 The Late Colonial Period, 1954-63 162 The Post-Colonial Period, 1964-1980 176 Labour in Crisis, 1981-2000 179 iii VI: CHILD LABOUR AND TRANSGENERATIONAL POVERTY IN THIKA DISTRICT, 1953-2000 191 The Late Colonial Period, 1953-63 194 The Post-Colonial Period, 1964-2000 199 VII: HEALTH AND POVERTY: THIKA UNDER ‘SIEGE’, 1953-2000 224 Health and Disease in the Late Colonial Period, 1953-1963 225 Health Care in the Post-Colonial Period, 1964-1983 228 HIV/AIDS: A New Challenge to Health Care, 1984-2000 232 VIII: STRATEGIES OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN THIKA DISTRICT, 1953-2000 265 The Role of Government in Poverty Alleviation 265 The Role of NGOs in Poverty Alleviation 274 The Role of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Coping with Poverty 282 Poverty Coping Strategies at the Household Level 297 IX: CONCLUSION 303 BIBLIOGRAPHY 311 iv List of Tables, Maps and Figures Table 1.1 Population Distribution and Density in 1999 18 Table 2.1 Land Use Categories in Kiambu District in 1980 75 Table 2.2 Distribution of Large Scale Farms in Thika in 1997 78 Table 2.3 Distribution of Small Scale Farms in Thika in 1997 79 Table 3.1 Price Fluctuations in Agricultural Produce 1998 and 2000 110 Table 4.1 Levels of Coffee Production in Thika District 1955-61 124 Table 4.2 The Level of Coffee Production in Kenya 1963-74 128 Table 4.3 Coffee production levels in both small and large scale sectors in 1995 148 Table 5.1 Work Stoppages in Kiambu and Thika Districts 1954-1960 176 Table 6.1 Primary Schools Enrolment by Gender in Thika District 1995-2002 223 Table 7. 1 Rate of HIV Prevalence Among Pregnant Women in the Thika Sentinel Surveillance Site, 1990-2000 235 List of Maps Map 1: The Location of Thika District in Kenya and the Administrative Boundaries in 2002 20 List of Figures Figure 1 Nathan at work 208 Figure 2 Nancy carrying stones to go and crush 210 Figure 3 A family at work in a quarry 212 Figure 4 A mother takes a break to breastfeed her baby next to a heap of crushed stones 214 v Abbreviations and Acronyms ABS African Broadcasting Service ADEA Association for the Development of Education in Africa AFC Agricultural Finance Corporation AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIDSCAP AIDS Control and Prevention Project ART Antiretroviral Treatment ASALs Arid and Semi-Arid Lands BI Bamako Initiative BNA Basic Needs Approach CAFOD Catholic Fund for Overseas Development CACC Constituency AIDS Control Committee CAP Crop Advance Payment CBO Community-Based Organisation CBK Coffee Board of Kenya CDO Community Development Officer CBS Central Bureau of Statistics COTEPA Coffee and Tea Parliamentary Association COTU Central Organisation of Trade Unions CPCS Co-operative Productive Credit Scheme CRF Coffee Research Foundation CSWs Commercial Sex Workers DACC District AIDS Control Committee DAO District Agricultural Officer DC District Commissioner DDC District Development Committee DFRD District Focus for Rural Development DTDO District Trade Development Officer DMS Director of Medical Services ESAPs Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes vi EABC East African Bag and Cordage GEMA Gikuyu, Embu and Meru Association GDP Gross Domestic Product GMR Guaranteed Minimum Return GNP Gross National Product HDI Human Development Index HIV Human Immunology Virus IADP Integrated Agricultural Development Programme IAP Integrated AIDS Programme IBEAC Imperial British East Africa Company ICA International Coffee Agreement ICDC Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation ICO International Coffee Organisation IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development ILO International Labour Organisation IRS Integrated Rural Survey KADU Kenya African Democratic Union KANU Kenya African National Union KCA Kikuyu Central Association KDHS Kenya Demographic and Health Survey KEM Kikuyu, Embu and Meru KEMSA Kenya Medical Supply Agency KEPP Kenya Entrepreneurial Promotion Programme KCGA Kenya Coffee Growers Association KFA Kenya Farmers Union KGGCU Kenya Grain Growers Co-operative Union KNFTU Kenya National Federation of Trade Unions KPAWU Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union KPCU Kenya Planters Co-operative Union KPU Kenya People’s Union MCT Municipal Council of Thika vii MDGs Millennium Development Goals MoF&P Ministry of Finance and Planning MoH Ministry of Health MP Member of Parliament MYWO Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation NACC National AIDS Control Council NASCOP National AIDS and STIs Control Programme NCC Nairobi County Council NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations NNGOs Northern Non-Governmental Organisations NPEP National Poverty Eradication Plan NSSF National Social Security Fund PACC Provincial AIDS Control Committee PC Provincial Commissioner PLWAs People Living with AIDS PPP Purchasing Power Parity PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper PSC Public Service Commission RoK Republic of Kenya SACCO Savings and Credit Co-operative Society SCIP Smallholder Coffee Improvement Project SRDP Special Rural Development Programme UNAIDS United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UNICEF United Nations Children’s Education Fund VCT Voluntary Counselling and Testing UBS Union Banking Section UNDP United Nations Development Programme WHO World Health Organisation WMS Welfare