Abstract
2. Why a national spatial plan for Kenya?
Kenya, with a population of 38.6 million people and land size of 581,313 square kilometers, is confronted with several developmental challenges. It is also, however, presented with numerous opportunities for development. These aspects of development demand a National
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Kenya
Spatial Plan to function as a coordinating reference frame to subsequently harness opportunities and tackle constraints.
2.1 Challenges
From the first perspective, several glaring challenges within Kenya can be identified.
First, apparent regional development disparities potentially constitute a threat to national cohesion. At independence, Kenya inherited a national space economy that was highly skewed in favor of the high potential regions. The British Colonial Government pursued this policy deliberately and was keen to extract resources from these areas for export to the West. The transport system was therefore developed in order to facilitate
the “White Highlands” (areas occupied by white farmers) and neglected the areas with less agricultural potential. Equally, primary urban areas with the requisite services and facilities were developed following the same pattern to the detriment of drier regions. Drier regions actually constitute more than 75% of the country’s land mass (see Figure 1).
Subsequent government policies after independence reinforced these disparities.
For instance, under the “growth center”
strategy, the criteria used to identify the centers included the agricultural potential of the immediate hinterland of the urban centers and the level of services and infrastructure.
This strategy aimed to create opportunities and develop capital works programs to expand large towns in addition to Nairobi and Mombasa. This would provide more alternatives for absorbing the migrant population and avoid the problems arising from excessive population concentration in one or two centers. The plan was to achieve this goal by accelerating the development of a limited number of selected towns throughout the country. This led to less attention being paid to the arid and semiarid areas, which the Colonial Government had already excluded from the national development agenda (Figure 2). Excluding such a large area of the national space locked out significant potential to generate national wealth. The country’s economic growth and development thus slowed.
The latter perspective is the persisting primacy of the capital city, Nairobi, and Figure 1_ Skewed Distribution of Main Urban
Centers and Road and Railway network over the Kenyan National Space
33 therefore an unbalanced/inequitable urban
system in the country. This further demonstrates the polarized nature of the national economy. Urbanization trends in
Kenya show a more or less stable concentration of population in Nairobi and Mombasa. In 1948, the population concentrated in Nairobi and Mombasa was 73.9% of the total urban population; in 1969 they accounted for 67% of the total urban population; in 1979, the two cities accounted for 51% of the total urban population; and by 1989, Nairobi and Mombasa accounted for 46% of the total urban population. By the last census in 1999, the primacy index had actually reached 1.97 from 1.05 in 1948. The dominance of these two cities has therefore persisted.
Related to the unbalanced urban development are issues of urban sprawl, which is leading to encroachment onto erstwhile rich agricultural land. This phenomenon is contributing directly to food insecurity and the development of unsustainable urban settlements. Other challenges that need to be addressed by the Figure 2_ Distribution of the Growth Centers
(Human settlement Strategy, 1978) Year
Kenya Pop.
(000) No. of Urban Centres
Urban Pop.
(000)
% Urban
Urban Growth Population Growth Rate (%)
Nairobi Pop.
(‘000)
Nairobi Population Growth Rate (%)
% of Urban Population in Nairobi
Primacy index
1948 5406 17 285 5.2 - 119 - 41.7 1.05
1962 8636 34 855 7.8 6.3 227 4.6 33.8 1.40
1969 10943 47 1076 9.9 7.1 506 12.2 47.0 1.55
1979 15334 91 2314 15.1 7.7 828 4.9 35.7 1.40
1989 21444 139 3864 18.0 5.2 1325 4.7 34.1 1.62
1999 28159 179 5429 19.3 3.4 2083 4.5 38.4 1.97
Table 1_ Trends of Urbanization in Kenya, 1948-1999
Source: Compiled from the 1948, 1962, 1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999 Kenya Population Census Reports.
Note: Primacy Index in this case is measured by the four-city primacy index, or the ration of the population of the largest urban center (Nairobi) to the combined population of the next three largest urban centers.
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National Spatial Plan include protecting water towers, wetlands, and fragile eco-systems as well as other transnational resources including the wildlife corridors and grazing lands.
2.2 Opportunities
Of crucial importance, however, is the need to harness the existing and emerging opportunities for national development.
These opportunities are both internal to the national territory and contextual. From the internal perspective, the national space economy has untapped potential that the National Spatial Plan needs to first identify and then determine how to use most effectively for national development. For instance, areas in the northern part of the country previously left out of the development process due to climatic constraints (semi-arid and arid lands) have significant potential for tourism, livestock, and mineral resources. Second, under-exploited water masses, including the Indian Ocean, Lake Victoria in the west and Lake Turkana in the north constitute important resources that can revolutionalise the economy. Recent institutional and political developments, coupled with a mass consciousness to transform society by promulgating the new constitution have also created goodwill for spatial planning. The new Kenyan constitution announced this year (2010) provides a decentralized devolution of resources and decision making to the regions (counties). These presently
provide prospects for balanced regional development if they are guided by an appropriate spatial framework. Further, the paradigm shift from the previous short-term, five-year national development plans to the long-term Vision 2030 is a good opportunity to develop the requisite long-term National Spatial Plan. With Vision 2030 recognizing the importance of spatial planning and adopting more innovative development concepts such as special economic zones, resort cities, and transport corridors, the horizon is open for spatial planning.
From the second perspective, immense opportunities arise out of Kenya’s natural geographic location relative to other countries within the African region. Her location along the Indian Ocean to the east has made her a natural entrepot for the eastern and central African economies. All the Great Lakes countries, plus Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo access the Indian Ocean and international markets through Kenya and the Mombasa port. Further, the Southern Sudan and Ethiopia, which have huge reserves of natural resources and large populations are emerging as key trading partners to the north. Additionally, Kenya belongs to several regional economic blocs including: 1) the East African Common Market, consisting of the east African countries of Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda with a population of more than 150 million people; and 2) COMESA, consisting of more than 18 countries with a population
35 of more than 250 million people. These
constitute huge markets that can be tapped to promote trade and industrial development; indeed, they can potentially propel the country to high and sustainable levels of growth and development.