ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the socio-political forces that have effectively blocked military intervention in Kenya from independence to the present. It suggests that the capacity for Kenya to block military interventions is based on the extent to which Kenya has transcended the colonial model of using the armed forces to maintain internal law and order. Discussions about civilian military rule in Saharan African states have been silent on the functional continuity between the colonial and post-colonial military. The history of Kenyan armed forces began with the creation of colonial state; the first instance of military intervention in Kenya was the conquest and defeat of the African nations by the British army which permanently changed their civilian life style. The persistance of civilian rule or democracy in Kenya is inextricably linked to Jomo Kenyatta and the Mau Mau revolt. The net effect was that the civilian regime to act with a great degree of autonomy and without the threat of military intervention.
