1. Kenyan Lessons: Post Independence Issues
Christopher Witulski

2. Post-Colonial Misconceptions
Automatic revision of colonial policy
Primacy of the state
“Go-it-alone” attempts
Threatened takeovers of large firms
Most success with micro-economics (away from state interaction)
Later recognition of small business
Education, training
Creation of a business class

3. Nairobi’s Cultural Potential
Increase in population from migration
Ethnic diversity
Optimism after independence
Resulting exchange instead of isolation

4. Early Success Nairobi’s 1960’s promising start 70’s stagnation
Influx of musicians
Pan-African success of Kenyans
Prevalence of labels and distributors
70’s stagnation
Failure to develop the “Nairobi sound”
Aging recording equipment
Artists could not make a living

5. Africanization of the Industry
African takeover of foreign control
Loss of networks, social capital
Kikuyu dominance, loss of diversity
Musical stagnation without popular appeal

6. Zaire as an Alternative
Recognition of political power in music
Government funded popular artists
International connections
Cuban rumba, strong Parisian interaction
The opposite of Kenyan isolation

7. Causes of Informal Settlements
Not simply poor legal framework
Commercialization of low-income housing
Exclusion of urban middle class from the formal process
Results in middle class ownership of informal housing

8. Nairobi in Context 1899 railway settlement
Foreigners occupied private houses
Europeans in private houses
Asians in extended family houses near the city center
Africans in cramped rental quarters
Racial zoning rationalized as “the need to achieve a disease free environment with minimum of public expenditure”

9. The Evolution of Supply
At first non-commercial reasons (squatting) for large settlements
Later commercial (illegal subdivisions, sub-subdivisions)
Racial zoning limited “free land market”
Replaced by similar class zoning

10. Results Mutually beneficial A result of a developmental context
Politicians - votes
Professionals with falling incomes
Legal land owners
Development “companies”
A result of a developmental context
Solutions in both more “formal” options and more distributed resources