Abstract Prior to the Second World War, Britain pursued a so called dual policy in Kenya, being in fact a policy of encouraging
the White settlers while ruthlessly pillaging and oppressing the native Africans. After the War, British colonial policy toward Kenya went through three periods in its development: In the first period (1945-1952), as Britain intended to stick to its colonial rule, its policy focused on the encouragement of new immigration of European settlers and the implementation of a slow and gradual political advance; in the second period (1953-mid 1959),with Britain at first shocked by the Mau Mau Uprising and then pressed by the incessantly growing demands of the African nationalists, its policy turned to armed suppression on the one hand and speeding up its ‘gradualist’ constitutional and land reforms on the other, but it still had no idea to withdraw in the near future; in the third period (since late 1959), confronted with tremendous changes in and
pressures from the situations both internal and
international, Britain decided to accelerate its decolonization process and withdraw from Kenya as fast as possible, so as to ensure its long term interest. Many factors caused this change of heart, such as the unremitting struggles of the Kenyan people, the international pressures, the ‘examples’ set by the other colonial countries, the decline of Britains ability to rule, and the ascendency of a pragmatic faction within the Conservative government.