Jackson advocate., 1956-08-25
British a..
Continued from Page Onel

to Kenya automatically poses is
What is the situation today ir
Kenya, whose Mau Mau uprising
has since been overshadowed by
British troubles in Cyprus anc
Suez?
The fact that security men are
permitting a member of the Brit
ish Royal Family to visit Kenya is
in itself an indication that the anti
white terrorism which erupted here
in 1852 has been quelled from the
military point of view.
Kenya's police chief, Richard
Catling, said as much recently in
London. Government officials say
peace is rapidly returning to Ken
va. Terrorists now are confined
to a comparatively small area.
So much for the military angle.
However, as this aspect appears
to draw to a close, it is apparent
to observers here that Kenya is
beset by extensive turbulance in
the political sphere. Emergency
regulations still prohibit political
organization of the colony's six
million Africans on any significant
scale.
Nevertheless, government offic-
ials are the first to admit that
after the Mau Mau's dramatic up
heaval Africans are acutely con-
cerned with local politics.
For example 10000 Africans
have been released in the past year
after detention for Mau Mau COM
plicity. Imprisonment may have
curbed their belief in force to eff
feet reforms, but officials agree it
is unrealistic to imagine they will
not seek to effect the same reforms
by other more legitimate political
means.
Some 10000 remain behind bars.
Among these, attempts have been
discovered to reorganize the Mau
Mau showing that opposition to
whites still exists.
Even among the Luo tribe, COM
prising about Is per cent of the
African population where members
are considered true loyalists and
who took no part in the Mau Mau
uprisings, there are signs today
Of non-cooperation with the white
man.
The Luos have baked at govern
ment agriculture reforms designed
to consolidate into larger and high
er-yielding plots land which over
the years has been fragmented into
numerous small unworkable units.
This non-cooperation is ascribed
by the government to anti-white
agitators who have misled the Luos
into believing that the scheme
which is for their own good is
government plan to steal land.
Then there are other straws in
dicating African discomfort, such
as an official Labor Department
report calling for accelerated At
rican housing to meet increasing
restiveness" on this subject. The
report cites general dissatisfaction
with living costs as the major cause
of the Mombasa dock strike last
year which lost $4,000 man-days.
The fact is that most Kenya At
ricans, whether involved in the
Mau Mau or not, believes that after
one rebellion lesson, whites are in
a mood to grant reforms and con-
cessions, and Africans are determ-
ined to press this advantage to the
hilt by political means.
Kenya's future harmony, there
fore, depends, to a considerable de-
gree on the quality and character
of the African political organiza-
tion which emerges to wage this
fight.
In light of this, it is unfortun-
ate that extremism largely key
notes the campaigning for the cleo
tion Of white parliamentarians to
the Kenya Government next month.
For some observers believe that
if the whites elect crop of ex-
tremists, the African will in reply
elect African extremists when they
come to vote for their own repre-
sentatives to the government in
March.
The new government would thus
be barren of moderates from both
race groups. Another incident
causing some speculation is the
new government ban on attend
ance by the Kikuyu, Meru, and
Embu-three tribes involved in
the Mau Mau uprisings-at meet
ings of the Nairobi district Afri-
can congress.
The congress is headed by Luo
barrister Chiedo Argwings-Kohdek
and is one of few political organ
izations permitted on a district |
basis by the government.
The congress charges that if
these obviously politically aware
Africans are banned from its meet
ings, African political activity will
GO dangerously und r ground.
These, then, are some of Kenya's
political points emerging as the
situation improves enough