Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T00:19:34.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is the Kenyan Bureaucracy Developmental? Political Considerations in Development Administration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

J. R. Nellis
J. R. Nellis*
Affiliation:
Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In Kenya today there are a variety of conflicting views concerning the present performance and the proper societal role of the public bureaucracy--the civil service. Consider the following statements. On March 17, 1971, in the Parliament of Kenya, the Assistant Minister in the Office of the Vice-President, Mr. M. Shikuku, stated that “the foremost enemies of the wananchi (citizens) were the country's senior civil servants” (East African Standard, March 18, 1971, p. 1). Another M. P., Mr. M. J. Seroney, stated that a type of “silent coup” had taken place and that Government (meaning the Cabinet and the very top political leaders) had “silently taken the powers of the National Assembly and given them to the civil service.” Mr. Seroney termed the National Assembly “a rubber stamp of some unseen authority” (p. k).

On March 18 the National Executive Officer for Kanu (the Kenya African National Union, at present the sole legal political party in Kenya) announced:

As things stand today Kanu is virtually dead.… Practically all Kanu branches and sub-branches are not functioning.… Administrative officers from P.C.s downwards have assumed the role of party officials.… Civil servants have interfered so much with the party work that the party officials in the districts are left wondering whether the Kenyan Government is a political one or not (East African Standard, March 19, 1971, P. 9).

The National Executive Officer called for a restructuring of the system so that administrators would receive directives from the party.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , December 1971 , pp. 389 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bent, F. T. “The Turkish Bureaucracy as an Agent of Change.” Journal of Comparative Administration, Vol. I, No. 1 (May 1969).Google Scholar
Braibanti, Ralph. “Transnational Inducement of Administrative Reform.” In Montgomery, J. D. and Siffin, W. J., eds. Approaches to Development: Politics, Administration, and Change. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.Google Scholar
Brokensha, David and Nellis, J. R.. “Administration in Mbere: Portrait of a Rural Kenyan Division.” Paper presented at the Workshop on Strategies for Improving Rural Welfare, University of Nairobi, June 1971.Google Scholar
Cliffe, Lionel and Saul, John. “The District Development Front in Tanzania.” In Coleman, J. S., Cliffe, L., and Doornbos, M., eds. Political Penetration in East Africa. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Daily Nation (April 3, 1971).Google Scholar
East African Standard (March 18, 19, 26, and 29, 1971).Google Scholar
Esman, Milton. “The Politics of Development Administration.” Occasional Paper of the Comparative Administration Group. Bloomington: American Society for Public Administration, 1963.Google Scholar
Feit, Edward. “Military Coups and Political Development: Some Lessons from Ghana and Nigeria.” World Politics, Vol. XX (January 1968).Google Scholar
Gertzel, C. The Politics of Independent Kenya 1965-1968. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1970a.Google Scholar
Gertzel, C. “The Provincial Administration and Development in Kenya.” Unpublished paper presented to the 1970 Universities of East Africa Social Science Conference, Dar es Salaam, December 1970b.Google Scholar
Ghai, Yash and McAuslan, J. P. W. B.. Public Law and Political Change in Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Hyden, G., Jackson, R., and Okumu, J., eds. Development Administration: The Kenyan Experience. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Ilchman, Warren F. “The Unproductive Study of Productivity: Public Administration in Developing Nations.” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. I, No. 2 (July 1968).Google Scholar
Kenya, , Republic of. Development Plan 1970-1974. Nairobi: Government Printer, 1969.Google Scholar
Leys, Colin. “Recruitment, Promotion, and Training.” In Hyden, G. et al., eds. Development Administration: The Kenyan Experience. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Milne, R. S. “Mechanistic and Organic Models of Public Administration in Developing Countries.” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. XV, No. 2 (March 1970).Google Scholar
Moore, Barrington. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Okumu, J. J. “The Socio-Political Setting.” In Hyden, G. et al., eds. Development Administration: The Kenyan Experience. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Pye, Lucien. Politics, Personality, and Nation-Building. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Report of the Commission of Inquiry (Public Service Structure and Remuneration Commission). Nairobi: Government Printer, 1971.Google Scholar
Riggs, Fred. Administration in Developing Countries. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1964.Google Scholar
Sunday Nation (May 2, 1971); (June 6, 1971; interview with Mr. R. S. Matano, Kanu's Acting Secretary General).Google Scholar
Thompson, Victor. “Administrative Objectives for Development Administration.” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. IX, No. 2 (June 1964).Google Scholar
Van Velzen, T. “Staff, Kulak and Peasant.” In Coleman, J. S. et al., eds. Political Penetration in East Africa. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Weaver, J. L. “Evaluation of Technical Assistance to Public Administration.” Journal of Comparative Administration, Vol. I, No. 4 (February 1970).Google Scholar