Kenyan and Tanzanian Exodus

Kenya, Tanzania.

During the late nineteenth century, large numbers of South Asians were taken to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to undertake indentured labour to build a railway connecting Uganda and Kenya (1886–1901). Before this period, small numbers of South Asian adventurers and merchants circulated among the coastal regions of East Africa. Following the period of indentured labour, more people from the subcontinent, namely from the Punjab, Gujarat and Goa, arrived in East Africa in professions such as traders, merchants and civil servants. Many settled in the region, making home under colonial rule.

In the early 1960s, as each nation gained independence from colonization (Tanzania in 1961, Uganda in 1962 and Kenya in 1963), economic and political climates began to shift, making life for South Asians uncertain. ‘Africanization’ policies were enacted to ensure Africans enjoyed more rights in trade and employment. South Asians were asked to acquire citizenship in both Tanzania and Kenya, thus surrendering their British passports. Many chose not to give up their British passports, and in the late 1960s these South Asians often migrated to the UK. This was due to uncertainty in Kenya and Tanzania, alongside changing immigration policies in the UK, like the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 (see below).

In Uganda the South Asian population faced expulsion in 1972. Many of these migrants also came to the UK, sometimes immediately and in some instances later. These East African Asians became part of the double diaspora, sometimes known as ‘twice migrants’, experiencing multiple migration.

The arrival of large numbers of South Asians from Kenya to the UK caused much consternation. Those arriving from East Africa were often met with hostility and had difficulty in finding housing and employment, even though the Race Relations Act 1968 (25 August 1968) made such discrimination illegal.  During the same period, in 1968 Conservative Party MP Enoch Powell made his controversial ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, which included condemnation of the Race Relations Act 1968 and became famous for its anti-immigrant sentiment. A little earlier in the same year, on 1 March 1968, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 was introduced by Parliament to restrict the migration of South Asians from Kenya into the UK. In the contemporary period, South Asians from East Africa form a prolific community in Britain.