CALL TO ACTION IN KENYA
,From time to time during the past year and more there have come statements from Kenya to the effect that the trouble is being brought under control. There was one on the very day that the delegation's report was published. The Member for Finance, Mr. E. A. Vasey, said in the Legislature that the defeatists " who talked about the situation deteriorating were ter n, -4 r" wrong, that " we are not being beaten by Mau Mau. we s, are moving steadily towards victory." It is this kind of cfement, taken together -with the manifest facts, which has opeiNten such u a disturbing impression of confusion and incom- petence Nobody has ever said that we were being beaten TI'vlati Mau. The point is that Mau Mau is not being beaten. bee men at the top in Kenya have been doing their best sea time senstime i. a doubt, but now that the situation has been re-defined is past for merely putting a bold front on it. In one bx, ,e, matters have been brought to a head, for the first time, h'as: Parliamentary delegation. The signal for a fresh start frankly given. But this start cannot be made until it is amen Y recognised that the influence of Mau Mau has increased People the Kikuyu in recent months; that the mass of the and given fresh hope for the future; that even in the most difficult circumstances and in the face of a most revolting enemy the security forces must see to it that their members do not stoop to barbarism themselves; and that the Europeans must accept changes, constitutional and otherwise, not only in principle but in detail, which must inevitably alter their way of life.
Just as the delegation's report will be generally accepted here, so will it be generally accepted in Kenya, for it must not be forgotten that the majority of the settlers are reasonable and practical men. The objective in Kenya is " a multi-racial society in which the rights of all men are safeguarded, and not the domination of one raee by another, or of the whole country by and for one race." There will be no disagreement on the principle, but there will be nothing easy about the reconciling of the long-term policy 'with the short-term necessities. The European's rights and the African's have to be brought into harmony and this involves, for example, tackling with a will the problems of land zadjUstment. However this is done, it will mean sacrifices for the white settlers. The Africans must have an outlet for their growing political awareness and that outlet is in the government of the country. More must be done to break down the colour' bar. Africans must get the rate for the job if they do it as well as a white man. These and other recommendations, if discussed in the abstract, would rouse no dissension save among the dwindling band of die- hards; but they are steadily moving towards the point of action. It will not be easy for the settlers and they will need a great deal of sympathy and support.
Previous page
