Weekly card
1895 – 1902
Land & Taxation
Roots of taxation: how colonial rule built the system we still carry
01Before colonial rule, many Kenyan communities were governed by councils of elders and age-set systems — leadership that involved the whole community, not one ruler.
02In 1895, Britain declared Kenya a "Protectorate" — the first step in stripping land and authority from local communities.
03Early land ordinances transferred ownership to the British Crown, laying the foundation for the inequality that persists today.
04The first colonial hut tax forced Kenyans into the cash economy — the root of the taxation system we live under today.
05Resistance began immediately — through secret meetings, quiet non-compliance, and refusal to pay. The history of resisting did not start in 2024.