KENYA AND ITS PROBLEMS
ATTENTION has recently been concentrated on East Africa for two reasons. The first is the publication of the Report of the East Africa Commission (Cmd. 2387. 3s. 6d.) appointed last year by the Colonial Secretary in the Labour Government and presided over by Mr. Ormsby-Gore, " to visit Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Tanganyika Territory, Uganda and Kenya," and to report on their general economic development, the social condition of the natives, the economic relation between natives and non-natives, transportation, cotton- growing and " the control of human, animal and plant diseases." The second reason is the publication by the Phelps-Stokes Fund of New York of a comprehensive survey, Education in East Africa, edited by Dr. Jesse Jones (Edinburgh House Press, 7s. 6d.), which is similar in scope and purpose to the volume on West Africa previously published by the same institution. The student of the development of the tropical depend- encies of the British Commonwealth in Equatorial Africa is fortunate in the wealth of material now available. Mr. Ormsby-Gore and his colleagues have placed us in their debt by the truly admirable manner in which they have carried out their task. They have presented us with a masterly survey of conditions in East Africa. A special tribute must also be paid to the Phelps-Stokes Fund of New York and its founder and officials for the help they have rendered to Great Britain in her task of bearing the white man's burden by placing at her disposal the vast store of knowledge which they have collected in their West and East African Reports.
There are several reasons why Kenya should be singled out for special attention ; one only need be mentioned. Kenya is the only colony in Central Africa which contains a large territory capable of permanent colonization by the white race. Kenya's present white population is 10,000, or more than that of Northern Rhodesia, Nyasa- land, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Uganda combined. Kenya's racial problems are also complicated by the presence of nearly 25,000 Asiatics. It is because white settlers have come to Kenya in these comparatively large numbers that her problems are of such absorbing interest, for within the memory of the present generation and before our eyes we can witness the reactions of darkest Africa to contact with Western civilization. Is it to be wondered at that misunderstandings and difficulties have sometimes arisen ? An American mis- sionary who has witnessed the metamorphosis writes :- " No native tribes in the world have been subjected to such a arcing process as those of Kenya Colony. Nowhere has the whole system of civilization been dropped so suddenly and so completely into the midst of savage races as Fere. In 1895 I crossed from Mombasa to the mainland in a dugout canoe and walked into tho interior. Twenty-eight years later these infant races are shaking their rattles and talking politics ! It is a situation that may well give pause to missionaries and officials alike, for it has within it the seeds of an unprecedented development or an appalling disaster."
In considering the problems of Kenya we must con- .itantly bear in mind our threefold obligation, first, to the native races, secondly, to the white settlers of the highlands, many of whom were encouraged to go to the Colony at the conclusion of the War, and, thirdly, to the Asiatics. As to our intentions in Equatorial Africa, there can be no doubt. The Magna Charta of our colonial policy is the British Government's official proclamation that " As in Uganda Protectorate, so in Kenya Colony, the principle of trusteeship for the natives, no less than in the Mandated Territory of Tanganyika, is unassailable." To the Englishman it is gratifying . to read the tribute to British Colonial policy from the American investigators of the Phelps-Stokes Founda- tion :- "Governmental and social custom throughout the world has too frequently interpreted ' trusteeship ' as the right to control and to exploit rather than the duty to develop. The record of the British Government in this respect is the best in Africa."
The existing legal position as regards native lands is unsatisfactory and the Commission recommends the setting-up of a definite Trust Board in which all native lands should be vested. There is a crying need for more railways and better roads in Kenya. The intro- duction of improved methods of education is essential. The chief object of all education, as Herbert Spencer taught us, should be " to prepare us for complete living." In East Africa there is, of course, need for " literary " education, but a knowledge of the three R's is not enough, and, as the report of the East Africa Commission points out, natural science should be made the basis of higher education in African native schools. Pupils should be taught, for example, in a simple manner " the normal conditions of life in Africa, the needs of the tribe, village, and family, the uses of domestic animals, how to combat wild animals and insect posts. Agriculture, sanitation and personal hygiene should play an important part in the curriculum."
In other words, education must be vitally related to the needs of the people, and book education of the old type is not enough. The plough, the anvil, the hammer, the broom, the frying pan and the needle must all be used to supplement the customary instruction.
As agriculture and cattle-raising are the means of livelihood of the vast majority of the population, instruction in improved methods of agriculture must be one of the chief aims of an enlightened education policy. Closely allied to it must be the scientific investigation of East Africa's chief scourge, the tsetse fly, and the prevention of both human and animal trypanosomiasis. In this connexion we cordially endorse the recom- mendation of the Report for the appointment of an International Commission to wage war on the tsetse fly. Nothing less than its extermination must be aimed at, and this should not be impossible provided sufficient funds are forthcoming. As one reads the pages of the .Commission's Report one is impressed repeatedly with the fact that the most urgent need of East Africa, apart from improved transportation, is scientific research. The magnificent destiny awaiting Kenya can only be realized if the best scientific brains are applied to the Colony's problems of human health, of animal and plant life, and of agriculture. Very welcome is the announcement made in the House of Lords by Lord Balfour that the Government proposes to set up an Imperial Research Committee to work on the lines of the Committee of Imperial Defence.
Another subject which vitally affects the economic welfare of Kenya is that of the supply of native labour, and here there is no ready-at-hand panacea. The present labour shortage, fraught with such grave possibilities, is dile to a variety of causes such as the decline in the native population, the rapid development in Kenya since the War, and the consequent demand for labour for Government construction and railroads, the extension of cotton-growing and the increased requirements of the European settlers. On the subject of forced labour the Report speaks in no uncertain terms : " Under no circumstances could the British Administration tolerate in any form the principle of compulsory native labour for private profit, be the employer native or non-native."
This principle we must always bear in mind in connexion with British colonial dependencies. A com- parison between conditions in East and West Africa is instructive ; much of the recent development on the . West Coast has been due to the part played by the native producer of cocoa and copra. The soundest foundation for the economic structure of a tropical colony to rest on is undoubtedly the prosperity of the native producer. Such an opinion does not imply that conditions in East and West Africa are entirely similar, for they are not. West Africa has no white man's territory like Kenya, where a large white population can be supported. Nevertheless the prosperity of British colonies and mandated territory in East Africa will in the last resort be judged by the status attained by the individual African tiller of the soil.
Despite a widely held belief to the contrary, the number of natives employed by white settlers in Kenya has shown an increase in the last five years. The total number of men, women and children so employed has grown from 53,709 in 1919-20 to 87,093 in 1923-24. The only method of obtaining an adequate supply of native labour appears to be by improving the health of the native community—the death-rate in many parts of tropical Africa for adults is four or five times as great as in Europe or America, and the contrast in infant mortality is even more striking. In Great Britain and America the death-rate for infants under one year ranges from 60 to 100 per 1,000 ; in Africa it varies between 300 to 600 per 1,000, and in some cases it is even higher. Here surely is the need for the introduction of Sir Truby King's life-saving methods—and, secondly, a greater economy in the use of labour.
The main recommendation of the Commission is that Parliament should authorize a loan of ten million pounds, guaranteed by the Imperial Government and ranking as a Trustee security, for the construction of harbours, railways and roads in East Africa. The writers of the Report estimate that half the capital sum would be spent in Great Britain on rails, bridging material and rolling- stock, which would provide work in just those industries at present so hardly hit.
In our opinion this recommendation of the Commission does not go far enough. Vital though they are to the future well-being of East Africa, more railways, better roads and larger harbours are not sufficient. If we are to be worthy of our trusteeship to the inhabitants of 'East Africa, black and white, it is essential that we pay greater attention to the claims of science. A suggestion has therefore been put forward that if Parliament authorizes the issue of a loan of ten million pounds for the develop- ment of the territories in East Africa, the Secretary of State should at the same time be authorized to spend a proportion of this sum, not exceeding, say, 5 per cent., at his discretion for purposes of research with a view to obtaining an intelligent control over the new economic forces in Africa which, unchecked, are likely to have a disturbing influence on native life. It is essential that the research should include not only the study of agri- cultural conditions, raw materials, and diseases, but also, and most important of all, the indispensable human factor on which, more than on anything else, the ultimate prosperity of these areas depends. Questions of population, of the amount of labour which at any given time may safely be withdrawn without disturbing the equilibrium of tribal life, of the best and most economical use of the available labour supply, and of increasing through educational effort the efficiency of native labour, are fundamental to successful economic development. The enquiry must also com- prise a study of the native mind and attitude. As the Prime Minister said in one of his recent speeches, no management can be scientific which fails to take account of the man in the workman. Similarly, no policy of economic development in East Africa can claim to be scientific which leaves out of account the man in the African.
Such an act on our part, irrespective of considerations! of profit and loss—though from the material standpoints every pound spent on research would probably pay us: back a handsome profit—would afford to the world fresh proof that we take our responsibilities to Africa very seriously, and would strengthen the beliet of all those who regard the British Empire as in the van of all movements making for human progress. For, our part in the slave trade in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we must make retribution. The present occasion gives us a fine opportunity of proving the reality of our desire to help Africa in the twentieth; century. Shall we take it ?
Previous page
