Immigration: the choice
Sir: Your holier-than-thou editorial (16 February) accuses Kenya of discriminating against Asians. This is untrue. The issue is one of citizenship and not race. We have many Kenyan citizens of Asian origin living peacefully in the country and carry- ing on with their professional and economic pur- suits. Those Asians who did not take Kenya citizenship during the two-year period of grace after independence, are not our responsibility since they are British nationals.
The laws that have been passed in Kenya to
give job opportunities to citizens are no more racialist than those existing in many other coun- tries, including Britain. Kenya's record of racial harmony and tolerance is beyond reproach. Your emotive talk of 'black racialism,' humiliating work permits' and 'savagely discriminating trading regulations,' will convince no one. And, since you live in a glass house (you want to declare a com- plete moratorium on all immigration, other than from the 'old Commonwealth'), you should not throw verbal stones.
J. N. Karanja High Commissioner, Kenya High Commission, 45 Portland Place, London WI
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