Legislative Council of Kenya

On 26 October 1906 an Order in Council was issued in London defining a new constitution for the East Africa Protectorate.

The post of Commissioner was replaced with that of Governor and Executive and Legislative Councils, consisting of both official and unofficial members, were created.

Governor Sir Percy Girouard opposed his nomination, but he was overruled by the Colonial Office who were keen to appoint a representative for the Indian community.

[3] From 1911 the European settler community demanded the right to elect the unofficial members sitting in the Council, a request which was regularly denied by the Colonial Office.

In 1917 the nominated members of the Council resigned their seats in protest, only returning on the promise by the Colonial Office that they would take steps to introduce legislation at cessation of the First World War.

[4] A single Indian candidate, Ahmad Hussein Malik, participated in the 1927 elections and was duly returned unopposed.

The Lennox-Boyd Constitution was amended following the first Lancaster House Conference in 1960, after which the Council of Ministers was limited to sixteen members, of which four were civil servants, four African, three European and one Asian.

In 1962 the Lancaster Constitution stipulated that the Legislative Council was to be succeeded by a bicameral parliament consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives.