A HISTORY OF SHIKA, 1928-1980

A HISTORY OF SHIKA, 1928-1980

Abstract:

This thesis attempted to locate the socio-economic and political development of Shika in historical perspective. It traced and analyzed the growth it experienced as a settlement established during the colonial period up to 1980. Although the thesis focused on the period 1928-1980, the historical background which entailed the emergence of various settlements in the area before 1928 was treated in some detail. The processes leading to the establishment and growth of the Government Stock Farm during the period 1928-1937 which became the National Animal Production and Research Institute (NAPRI) in 1976 was examined. In this regard we stressed that the colonialists established Shika in an area where indigenous settlements were already in existence. We also showed that right from the moment the Shika Stock Farm was established in 1928, it started having visible impact on the pre-existing settlements. In particular, we considered how Makoye and Mahuta were dispossessed of their agricultural lands and households from 1928. This allowed us to bring out the major purpose of colonial economy: the siphoning of the wealth of the colonized for onward movement to the metropolitan country. This is evident in the production and sales of stocks from the Stock Farm, the revenue of which was never used for infrastructural development the area. We further demonstrated that migration and settlement played a significant role in the growth of Shika. This was influenced by the continued arrival of the labour force needed to work in the colonial Stock Farm. The subsequent neo-colonial economic development that led to the establishment of a tobacco farm also proved disadvantageous. This was because, in addition to neglect in the provision of infrastructure in both the colonial and the post colonial periods, the land of the peasants was expropriated primarily to execute projects by the colonial and neovi colonial states. This trend, however, played a role in the transformation of the Shika society from a homogenous to a heterogeneous one; and from an agrarian society to a service oriented one. The resultant effect of this transformation is clear in the new social and economic activities deviant from those of pre-colonial setting that emerged in the area. While socially there was the introduction of the Sarauta system to aid the collection of taxes, the school and the clinic, economically there was the diversification of occupation and high cost of living. We also most significantly examined the administrative changes since the Makoye era, around 1902, up to the period in which Shika became a district headquarters in 1980.

A HISTORY OF SHIKA, 1928-1980