A NOTE ON SOME CHANGES IN THE ECONOMY OF THE KIPSIGIS TRIBE
| Author | C. W. Barwell |
| Date | 01 April 1956 |
| Published date | 01 April 1956 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1956.tb00523.x |
By
C. W. Barwell
Agricultural Department, Kenya
ORGANISATION OF
NATIVE
ADMINISTRATION IN
BELGIAN
CONGO
95-
of non-discrimination on racial grounds
and
this policy has now been extended
to cover admission to licensed premises
and
to cinemas in
European
areas.
Conclusions: The Tenor of the Law and the Future Trends
In this article
the
main
statutory
provisions concerning
the
administrative
organisation of
the
native
population of
the
Congo, together
with
the
principal
regulations governing
the
relationship of
the
several racial groups in
the
main
centres of population, have been described.
It
must
be
noted
that
the
different
enactments
mentioned above have been
repeatedly amended in
the
course of
the
last few years in order to
adapt
them
to
the
new
and
changing circumstances
brought
about
by
the
continuous
and
rapid evolution of
the
native communities of
the
Colony. Indeed, so
great
have been
the
reforms which have been introduced into certain aspects of
the
legislation
that
complete new enactments have been preferred to piecemeal
amending legislation. The general
tenor
of this new legislation has been to
unify
the
law, to allow
the
Congolese population increasingly to realise
their
legitimate aspirations
and
to enable government to facilitate
that
increased
participation of
the
natives in public life which it desires to bring about. In
accordance with these principles a new
draft
bill is soon to be
submitted
to
the
legislator covering
the
administration of
the
native
areas.
The
object of
the
new legislation will be to introduce auniform
and
similar system of adminis-
tration into
both
types of native rural area, i.e. into
the
chefferies and
the
sccteurs
and into
the
extra-customary centres. By so doing it will cause
the
existing
differences in
the
manner of
ｧｯｶ･ｲｮｭｾｮｴ
of these areas to disappear. At
the
same time a new bill concerning
the
administration of
the
towns has also been
prepared. This bill is likewise inspired by
the
policy of promoting uniformity.
In order to effect this uniformity
it
is intended
that
representatives of
both
the European
and
the
native cities will henceforward sit together, and in equal
numbers, on
the
urban
committees of those towns which comprise
both
types
of community.
A NOTE ON SOME CHANGES IN
THE
ECONOMY OF
THE
KIPSIGIS
TRIBE
Introduction
INrecent years aremarkable change has come
about
in
the
economy and
the mode of life of
the
Kipsigis
tribe
of Kenya. The object of this note is to
describe
the
nature
of this change by comparing
the
lot of
the
Kipsigis of
yesterday
with
that
of
the
tribesmen of today,
and
to explain,
very
briefly,
the
manner
in which
the
significant changes which are indicated by this com-
parison have come
about
since
the
end of
the
Second World War.
The Kipsigis
inhabit
part
of
the
Nyanza
Province of Kenya. The
tribe
is
not a large one
and
at
the
last census,
taken
in 1948, it numbered only 143,000
persons. Like
many
African tribes it is, however, increasing rapidly in numbers.
The Kipsigis are a Nilo-Hamitic people who migrated from
their
original
habitat
S0!llewhere in
the
north
many
years ago, although
the
actual
time of this
mIgration has never been established. The pioneer Kipsigis
appear
to have
!"Iad
a good eye for
the
land
since
they
selected for themselves an excellent area
In their new homeland in Nyanza. Their
country
today
covers
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