Jamhuri Day is meaningless: Kenyans are not yet free

In 1888 the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) was granted a royal charter to administer and commercially exploit British territory in East Africa on behalf of the British monarch. The company was eventually responsible for managing the production and exportation of raw materials; (a substantial chunk of) its sphere of influence was renamed the Kenya Protectorate in 1895, and Kenya Colony in 1920. The construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway, to facilitate the trade that would turn Kenya into a paying colony, had followed the cession of the IBEA's mandate to the Foreign Office; the declaration of the protectorate over Kenya was followed, in turn, by the systematic alienation of large tracts of land.

Another article from kI on the history of Kenya.