Heritage

Kaloleni Social Hall: From Kenya’s first Parliament to just an eyesore

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Kaloleni Social Hall. PHOTO | DOUGLAS KIEREINI

The Englishman, Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928), published the book Tomorrow; a Peaceful Path to Real Reform, (1898), which was a description of a utopian city where people lived in harmony with nature. The publication led to the founding of the Garden City Movement.

The idealised garden city would be self-sufficient, housing 32,000 people on a site of 6,000 acres planned on a concentric pattern with open spaces, public parks and six radial boulevards extending from the centre.

Sir Howard’s garden city concept combined the town and country in order to provide the working class with an alternative to working on farms or crowded, “unhealthy” cities.

The concept gained great popularity and was adopted in cities across Europe, the Americas, Australia, Japan and in Pinelands in Cape Town.
Sir Howard is regarded as an eminent guide to the town planning movement, with many of his garden city principles being used in modern day town planning.

At the turn of the 20th century Nairobi was but a tin shack town housing mostly railway workers, government officials and Indian traders. However, by 1903, Nairobi was accepted as the capital city of Kenya becoming the administrative centre, seat of power and housing for the colonial population.

The first urban policies were based on “separate” development or more accurately, racial segregation which had all the hallmarks of apartheid practised in South Africa. In order to serve this purpose, Nairobi was divided into three residential zones. The Northern and Western (Westlands) zone was reserved for White settlement. The Southern zone, part of the Eastern zone and the Indian Bazaar were reserved for Asians. Africans who were authorised to live in the town were accommodated in the Eastern zone.

The formal settlement for Africans was first seen at Kariokor which was destined for returning World War 1 veterans. African employees of the railway were housed in Muthurwa, Landhi Mawe, and Makongeni.

By 1918, there were illegal settlements in Mathare Valley inhabited by Africans from rural areas and those who had been expelled from other areas to make way for European settlement.

As time passed Africans became of significant value as a labour force serving in the roles of domestic servants, traders and assistants to safaris. The colonial view of Africans as temporary inhabitants of Nairobi had to be modified. However, the administration still held that Africans should not live with their families in Nairobi.

In 1921, the municipality developed Pumwani, Shauri Moyo, Starehe and Ziwani Estates for occupation by what was then seen as the African urban elite.
As early as 1927, Kaloleni Estate had been conceived along the lines of Sir Howard’s garden city principles but there was little incentive to implement it as the authorities felt comfortable with the status quo based on the South African model.

Until the outbreak of World War 11, the central preoccupation of the colonial government was control of the African urban population. Africans who worked fitted well into colonial perceptions and planning but those who did not have formal or full time occupations were regarded as a nuisance and had no business being in town.

The accommodation for Africans was therefore built for single occupancy by working men.
With the lifting of the economic depression in the 1930s and the greater social development interest shown by the colonial metropolitan administration, the municipal council started building family housing instead of cells for single men.

New estates were equipped with communal facilities in recognition of the fact that Africans of both sexes and ages had become permanent residents of the city. Notions of education, development and recreation came to play an increasing role in the planning of the urban space and activities for Africans.

Kaloleni Social Hall was built between 1943-48 by Italian prisoners of war as part of Kaloleni Estate. Although the design of the estate had initially been largely influenced by the Garden City concept, the final blueprints were based on a template created by American town planner Clarence Perry in his famous Neighbourhood Unit.

The building is constructed in rough dressed stone walls under a Mangalore tiled roof. Doors are made of ledged and braced timber while windows are glazed in timber casements. The floor is finished in cement screed. The facility comprises a large hall with a stage, offices, two other smaller halls and an external ablution block. We understand the halls are currently used by three evangelical churches that pay rent per use.

Thorny question

There is also a youth group, Encourage Talent Africa, which practices in the main hall during the week. The building is a sight for sore eyes and is badly in need of repair and redecoration.

The original purpose of Kaloleni Social Hall was to keep Africans busy during their leisure time and to distract them from the thorny question of land and self determination.

However, it was not to be and instead this very hall became the hotbed of the movement for independence where political leaders such as Tom Mboya, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Charles Rubia, Milton Obote and others addressed large meetings attended by up to 6,000 people.

It is here that many trade union meetings were held during the colonial period, adding momentum to the freedom struggle.The building also served as Kenya’s first parliament briefly in the early 1950’s.

Kaloleni Social Hall was gazetted as a national monument in 2015 after concerted effort by the Kaloleni Residents Association who warded off attempts to frustrate the process.

This building is imbued with priceless heritage of our country. It behoves us to protect and preserve this national treasure for the sake of posterity.

The author is a retired banker and motorcycle enthusiast.
Email: [email protected].