Jambo bwana nataka Kazi—'hello, Mister; can you give me some
work?'—is the usual opening conversational gambit of the Kenya African. Kikuyuland, largely liberated from despotism, has been shackled to the plough. In a recent tour of Central Province I was frequently told that the Kikuyu no longer has time to think about Mau Mau: he is too busy. Bench-terracing, road-making, the planting of cash crops, the sprouting of villages reflect the new tribal scene that has begun to grow out of the distorted ambitions of Jomo Kenyatta. The key lies in the land consolidation scheme, Single holdings are being substituted for the fragmented properties of the past.; it is believed that in this way the Kikuyu will be able to attain prosperity enough to finance the administration necessary to prevent the Mau Mau reviving. The Mau Mau 'passive wing' have to put in four or five days' work a week on agricultural betterment schemes : Kikuyu 'whites' spend perhaps three days on such projects, and the rest on their own property. As the face of the countryside is transformed, more and more Kikuyu will be able to devote themselves to their own land; and a new Kikuyuland will be built along lines that the Mau Mau frus- trated—for Jomo Kenyatta forbade his followers to plant cash crops, and where bench terraces had been constructed he ordered their demolition. Generally speaking, the new order is being enthusiastically received—except by the incorrigibles doomed, in all probability, to permanent outlawry.
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