Devonshire White Paper

The Devonshire White Paper was a document written in 1923 by the colonial secretary Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, regarding the status of settlers and natives in the Kenya Colony. The paper stated that whenever the interests of the native Africans clashed with those of Asian, European, or Arab settlers, those of the Africans should prevail. Although the Paper had little effect on the welfare of native Africans, it nonetheless set a precedent for future conflict resolution between the various groups living in the colony.

The Legislative Council established to govern the East African Protectorate originally consisted of three appointed white settlers. However, other white settlers in the colony resented the fact that they could not elect representatives to the Council, and, led by Lord Delamere, began to demand "no taxation without representation". In 1916, white settlers were elected to the Council, and focused predominantly on European settler issues.

The Asian community had, in 1911, been granted appointed seats on the non-official (opposition) side of the Legislative Council, two occupied by Indians and one by an Arab. However, seeing the success of the European settlers in demanding elective representation, they began to demand the same privilege. They previously petitioned the colonial government for the right to purchase land in the fertile White Highlands, but this was denied and restricted to white settlers. Their demands for less restrictive policies on Indians, such as lenient immigration laws on Asians, frequently put them at odds with the European settlers.

Meanwhile, in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the Union of South Africa (now South Africa), the Boers and European settlers had managed to exclude the native African population completely from the governance of these territories. The British settlers in Kenya were increasingly interested in the political development of these places, and desired that such a form of government be implemented in Kenya. Therefore, in 1923, representatives of the white settlers were sent to London to negotiate for white minority rule in Kenya, as well as the exclusion of Asians from the White Highlands and restricted Indian migration into the colony. In turn, an Asian delegation was sent to lobby for the promotion of Asian interests, including their opposition to the restrictive immigration into the colony and restriction on land ownership in the White Highlands. The missionaries in the colony, sympathetic to the native African population, were similarly alarmed with the idea of white minority rule, and sent their own delegation to London to counter the settlers' proposals.

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