Critical Analysis of Bilateral Relations Between Kenya and Britain From 1963 to 2017

Abstract

The study critically evaluated the bilateral relations between Kenya and Britain from the year 1963 to 2017. More specifically, the study focused on the political, economic and social relations between Kenya and Britain spanning through four regimes the country has been through including Kenyatta regime, Moi regime, Kibaki regime and Uhuru regime. The study was purely qualitative and relied on secondary sources of data including books, journals, articles, reports, periodicals, magazines and newspapers. The study established that Kenya’s bilateral relations with Britain has greatly grown in reaps and bounds right from Kenyatta’s to Moi’s era, through Kibaki’s era and currently, Uhuru’s era. The study found that bilateral relations during the Kenyatta and Moi’s era were more focused on strengthening the political relations between the two countries while during Kibaki and Uhuru’s era, economic ties formed the central pillar of bilateral relations between the two countries. The study established that Kenyatta and Moi’s bilateral policy was focused on the west but president Kibaki and Uhuru turned to east under what is currently dubbed as “look east policy”. This has resulted in the increased presence of China as a development partner and a source of funding for large scale infrastructural development projects in Kenya including the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway that connects Mombasa and Nairobi. Besides, the study established that China has gained more credence as an investor and bilateral partner with Kenya over the Kibaki and Uhuru presidency as compared to Britain. In addition China has contributed more grants towards Kenya’s infrastructural development than Britain during Kibaki and Uhuru’s era. The study revealed that Britain is the leading export market for Kenyan goods, followed by the United States while Kenya’s shares of exports to China are the least. Kenya’s diplomatic paradigm to the east kicked off immediately after President Kibaki took over the reign of power and swore to transform Kenya into an economic hub and a more fair and equitable country. The study concluded that Kenya has had strong bilateral relations with Britain throughout the four presidents including Kenyatta, Moi, Kibaki and Uhuru presidency. The study recommended that Kenya should diversify its economic relations and more specifically on balance of trade in order to avoid over dependency on either the East or West side of the aisle. This is informed by the failure of East African integration initiatives and the lack of a common regional political framework. Kenya and Britain should further collaborations and partnerships based on truth and mutual friendship and interest. Over the past few years, Kenya-Britain ties have come under sharp criticism over issuance of travel advisory which according to security experts strains the political ties between Kenya and Britain. Although there is cooperation in many spheres, there is more to be desired. All stakeholders from both Kenya and Britain need to come together and come up with cooperation agreements or joint initiatives to tackle bottlenecks such as terrorism and other forms of crime, corruption, trade imbalances, poverty, and political tension. Secondly, a lot more needs to be done to unlock the potential of British organizations in enhancing the Kenya-Britain bilateral relations. On cultural integration, the gap between the current-status and the expected or desired state can be closed through implementation of more initiatives and enhancing the current one. In the end, the researcher recommended another study to be done to examine the sustainability of bilateral relations between Kenya and Britain.