The Northern Frontier Province or Northern Province,[1] or initially referred to as 'Northern Frontier District' (NFD) was one of the provinces of British Kenya. Originally, the Northern Frontier covered the northern region of East Africa Protectorate later succeeded by British Kenya, it later included half of the Jubaland Province that remained as part of Kenya when the other half was ceded to the Italian Empire.[2]
By the late 1920s, the Northern Frontier Province covered nearly half of the colony's territory. The population of the region was estimated to be 65,136 in 1931.[3] It was one of the most underdeveloped region of the colony and was not favoured by settlers due to its arid and semi-arid climate. In 1963, the Northern Province was abolished and it's territories spread across three newly created regions of Kenya: Eastern Region, divided into Marsabit and Isiolo districts; Rift Valley covered Turkana District; North Eastern Region contained the Wajir, Mandera and Garissa districts.[4]
During negotiations for Kenya's independence, Britain granted administration of the whole of the Northern Province to Kenyan nationalists despite an informal plebiscite showing the overwhelming desire of part of the region's population to join the newly formed Somali Republic.[5] The North Eastern Region of the Northern Frontier District is, and has historically been, mostly inhabited by Somalis.[6] [7]
In present-day usage, the NFD refers to the six counties of Kenya that were established out of the six districts created by the colonial government prior to independence.
See main article: Jubaland, Greater Somalia and Shifta War. The Northern Frontier Province existed in the East Africa Protectorate as one of nine protectorate's provinces.[2] The formal inception of the administration of the Northern Frontier District commenced in 1909, albeit in an unofficial capacity. This period saw the establishment of stations at Marsabit and Moyale, alongside a police post at Ewaso Ngiro, which was subsequently renamed Archer's Post. Initially, the district was under the nominal jurisdiction of the provincial commissioner of Naivasha Province. However, it was officially recognized in 1910, with its headquarters located at Moyale.
In 1911, the military occupied posts at Loiyangolani near Lake Rudolf, followed by Wajir and Gurreh in 1912. In 1915, these posts were subsequently vacated over the ensuing years, with the exception of a new post established at Buna.
In 1916, Bulesa was designated as a sub-district, achieving full district status in 1917/18, with its headquarters at Garba Tula. However, this status was short-lived, as it reverted to a sub-district in 1919/20. The headquarters of the Northern Frontier District were relocated to Meru, Kenia Province, in 1919.
By 1921, with the military administration, Telemugger, with its headquarters at Sankuri, was transferred to the district from Jubaland. The Samburu received a new headquarters at Barsaloi, and the administrative base for Gurreh was established at Mandera in 1923.
At the time under British colonial administration, the northern half of Jubaland Province was ceded to Italy as a reward for the Italians' support of the Allies during World War I.[8] Britain retained control of the southern half of the territory, which was later merged with the Northern Frontier Province[2]
In 1925, the military's role began to diminish, with a partial transition to civil administration, with the exception of Wajir and Mandera, which were civilly administered the following year. The districts of the reorganised Northern Frontier Province included Moyale, Gurreh, Wajir, Telemugger, Garba Tula, Marsabit, and Samburu.
By 1929, the seven districts had been reduced to five: Isiolo, Marsabit, Moyale, Wajir, and Telemugger. The provincial headquarters were subsequently relocated from Meru to Isiolo.
In 1934, the provincial status was withdrawn, and the Samburu were transferred to the Rift Valley Province. Moyale and Mandera were evacuated in 1940, but civil administration was restored the following year.
In 1947, the districts of Turkana and the extra-provincial areas of the Northern Frontier were amalgamated to form the Northern Frontier Province, which included the districts of Turkana, Isiolo, Marsabit, Moyale, Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa. The province was thereafter administered from Marsabit.[9]
On 26 June 1960, four days before granting British Somaliland independence, the British government declared that all Somali-inhabited areas of East Africa, Greater Somalia should be unified in one administrative region. Which meant Kenya was to cede part of the Northern Frontier. However, after the dissolution of the former British colonies in the region, Britain granted administration of the Northern Frontier to Kenyan nationalists despite an informal plebiscite demonstrating the overwhelming desire of the region's population to join the newly formed Somali Republic,[10] and the fact that the NFD was almost exclusively inhabited by ethnic Somalis.[11]
In December 1962, at the urging of the Somalia government, the British appointed a commission to ascertain the desires of the inhabitants of the Northern Frontier District regarding its future. The commissioners reported that the inhabitants of five of the six administrative areas of the Northern Frontier District favoured union with the Somali Republic.[12] According to the Somali Republic, unification was favoured by 88% of the inhabitants.[13] Early in 1963, Britain assured Somalia that no decision would be made regarding the Northern Frontier without prior consultation with the Republic. However, Britain did not follow the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of the Northern Frontier and cede the territory to the Somalia Republic. Instead, on 8 March 1963, Britain announced the creation of the North Eastern Region out of the Northern Frontier District. Unsatisfied with this solution, the Somali Republic severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on 18 March 1963.[14]
On the eve of Kenya's independence in August 1963, British officials belatedly realized that the new Kenyan regime was not willing to give up the Somali-inhabited areas it had just been granted administration of. Led by the Northern Province People's Progressive Party (NPPPP), Somalis in the NFD vigorously sought union with their kin in the Somali Republic to the north.[15]
In response, the Kenyan government enacted a number of repressive measures designed to frustrate their efforts in what came to be known as the shifta period: Somali leaders were routinely placed in preventive detention, where they remained well into the late 1970s. The North Eastern Province was closed to general access (along with other parts of Kenya) as a "scheduled" area (ostensibly closed to all outsiders, including members of parliament, as a means of protecting the nomadic inhabitants), and news from it was very difficult to obtain. A number of reports, however, accused the Kenyans of mass slaughters of entire villages of Somali citizens and of setting up large "protected villages"—in effect concentration camps. The government refused to acknowledge the ethnically based irredentist motives of the Somalis, making constant reference in official statements to the shifta (bandit) problem in the area.
Although the main conflict ended in a cease-fire in 1967, Somalis in the region still identify and maintain close ties with their brethren in Somalia.[16] They have traditionally married within their own community and formed a cohesive ethnic network.[17]