ABSTRACT
At the end of 1953 the Mwea Scheme existed mainly as an idea, as limited survey information, and as growing departmental and individual commitments. As the Scheme grew the organizations which came together to create it were at first primarily concerned with activities related to changing the land into an irrigation system, and achievement was measured in terms of the amount of construction and land alteration that was accomplished. Although the two departments most closely involved were the M.O.W. and ALDEV, the Administration was influential in pressing for speed on political grounds and in negotiating with the local people for the land. This chapter, in considering organization, activities and relationships connected with the development of the land, is primarily concerned with the years 1954, 1955, and 1956, since it was during those years, before the process of settlement had got under way, that alteration to the land was the centre of attention; but some aspects of land development are considered through to mid-1960 when, for a time, the work of changing the land ceased.
