Independence? What Independence?

From the NY Times this morning.

On Wednesday, a Kenyan oil official told Reuters that the country was canceling an agreement to import up to 80,000 barrels of oil a day from Iran after Britain warned Kenya that it could run afoul of the sanctions.

Exactly how does a former exploitative colonizer (is there any other type) have the gall to tell it's former victim whom they can do business with and what "sanctions" they are going to impose if they do? That's pure bullshit.

Here I thought Kenya was an independent nation. An independent Kenya would have been able to tell Britain what cliff to jump off of and do business with whomever it pleased.