As preparations for third India-Africa Forum Summit begin, here’s an overview of India’s ties with one of the fastest emerging nations in east Africa — Kenya
As New Delhi prepares for the third India-Africa Forum Summit, it offers a good opportunity to underline the strong historical ties that bind the two partners as well the immense potential for close cooperation in the future. This is especially true for India’s ties with emerging African nations like Kenya which have made significant progress in recent years. Though in contemporary popular imagination, there is little that connects India with Kenya, relations between the two littoral states can actually be traced back several centuries.
Indians, primarily from Gujarat, were known to be travelling to and trading with east African nations, even before the Europeans came and colonised that area. For example, a Greco-Roman guidebook on trade in the Indian Ocean region, written sometime in the middle of the first century, documents in detail the presence of Indians in east African nations including modern-day Kenya. While the vast majority of these early traders and sea-farers did not settle in region, they nonetheless left an indirect civilisational imprint.
Large-scale migration of Indians to Kenya happened hundreds of years later when European powers began their ‘Scramble for Africa'. The British got control of Kenya and brought thousands of labourers from India to build what was then known as the Uganda Railway project. Today, the original rail line between Mombassa and Kisimu lies entirely in Kenya while the British-era company has been split into three national railway corporations. About 6,000 of the Indian workers who came to build Uganda Railway stayed back in Kenya, establishing one of the first Indian communities in east Africa. Some of them continued to work for the railways while others step up shop in the newly developing trade towns and ports.
Even though social integration took its time, especially as race relations went through a turbulent phase in the 20th century, several persons of Indian origin contributed significantly to Kenyan independence and development. For example, the India-born Makhan Singh was the first to establish a trade union in Kenya while the Kenya-born, India-educated journalist and politician Pio Gama Pinto played an active role in the Kenyan freedom struggle.
Later, Jawaharlal Nehru had dispatched the erudite Diwan Chaman Lall from India to defend the Father of the Kenyan nation, Jomo Kenyatta, at his 1953 trial. Notably, the defence team also included two other persons of Indian origin, FRS DeSouza (he later became Kenya's Deputy Speaker) and AR Kapila. Today, several Indian-origin Kenyans hold positions of power and influence in their country — Manilal Premchand Chandaria, for example, is one of Kenya's biggest industrialists while Pheroze Nowrojee is a renowned human rights lawyer.
Overall, Kenya is now an important trade and investment partner for India which is seeking to establish a larger commercial presence in the African continent. For Kenya, India is now its biggest source for imports with local markets responding well to Indian products which are seen as affordable and of better quality. In fact, for the year ended March 2014, bilateral trade between the two countries was pegged at $4.019 billion with Indian exports accounting for $3.77 billion. The latter includes a wide range of items from pharmaceuticals and steel products to machinery, yarn, vehicles and power transmission equipment.
From the political point of view, relations between the two countries have been strong and stable. While their shared history of British colonialism meant they were supportive of the others' nationalistic aspirations, today both countries acknowledge the other's position as major regional power houses.
This article was published in the oped section of The Pioneer on August 6, 2015
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