Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume XI, Part 1

745R.00/7–2053

The Second Secretary of the Embassy in the United Kingdom ( Tibietts ) to the Department of State

secret
No. 375

London , July 20, 1953.

Subject:

• Recent Developments Affecting Kenya.

There are summarized below the informal comments of an officer of the Colonial Office concerning recent developments affecting Kenya.

1. Jomo Kenyatta: This officer had just returned from the House of Commons where there had been a flare-up of some Labor MPs over the news that Jomo Kenyatta’s conviction had been set aside.¹ Wedgwood Benn,² Labor, son of Lord Stansgate,³ had argued that Mr. Lyttelton had prejudiced the chances of a new trial by his earlier statement that some of the evidence associating the Kenya African Union with Mau Mau had come out in Kenyatta’s trial. This argument had been set aside by the Speaker on the grounds that the case was sub judice.

The Colonial Office expects the Government of Kenya to appeal the decision setting aside Kenyatta’s trial and to win it on the grounds that Judge Thacker’s commission was good for the colony as a whole. They have also been told by the Attorney General that Mr. Lyttelton’s remark did not prejudice Kenyatta’s trial, although it would perhaps have been better left unsaid. (The Secretary interpolated it on his own to the dismay of the Colonial Office.) The developments concerning Kenyatta’s trial have not therefore worried the Colonial Office unduly.

2. Nehru and the Africans: In the course of Nehru’s visit to London in June he talked with several of the local African agitators—lobbyists, including Peter Koinange. Koinange does not, however, worry the Colonial Office at the moment. Apart from an occasional letter, they seldom hear from him, and they do not believe that he has much influence either among the Africans in London or in Kenya. What Nehru and the Africans talked about and who the other Africans were is not known.

Mr. Lyttelton himself saw Nehru during June for a long discussion of Kenya and Central Africa. The Secretary told his officials that “Mr. Nehru made exactly as much of an impression on me as I made on him,” and it is difficult to imagine two men less suited to each other. The Colonial Office was annoyed but not surprised at Nehru’s speech July 6 accusing the British inter alia of treating the Africans like wild animals.⁴ They have decided not to make representations, however, and to let the matter drop. In the meantime, Patel⁵ of the Kenya Asians has written to the Government expressing concern at the effect of Indian statements on Kenya on the position of the local Indians. The British think that local pressure may be the best way of handling this situation.

3. Murumbi: ⁶ Murumbi has left London and returned to India, according to information received at the Colonial Office. He did not call at the Colonial Office and was not active during his stay in London. (During the first two weeks of June there were notices in all of the left-wing periodicals of a public meeting June 20, to be sponsored by the Congress of Peoples Against Imperialism, at which Murumbi was to speak; a fairly large hall was hired for the meeting. According to the press, Murumbi did not appear and no adequate explanation for his absence was given. It is possible that Murumbi was worried lest he attract too much attention from the Colonial Office by participating in a meeting of this sort and preferred to run out on the meeting’s sponsors.)

4. The Military Situation in Kenya: The Colonial Office has been cheered by General Erskine’s⁷ reports and officials think that, if all goes well, by October or November most of the work can be turned over to the police. The Harvard planes have been particularly effective because they paralyze the Africans with fear. Erskine has asked for more planes, and they are on the way. The Africans who have been in hiding are in a ragged and hungry condition when they appear in the Reserves and this has made easier the problem of identification.

5. The Kenya Europeans: The Europeans in effect “served notice” on Mr. Lyttelton during his visit in May that they would allow a period of grace for the new policies to work, and they have therefore been quiet lately. (Mr. Lyttelton is not afraid of the Europeans and will do what he thinks necessary in any case but it does make it easier if the Europeans are behaving themselves.) The new policies—i.e. the sending out of General Erskine and the appointment of a Deputy Governor⁸—have not only made the Government more efficient but have also strengthened it vis-à-vis the Europeans. Sentiment in the Colonial Office is that any Europeans who step out of line should be locked up without delay.

6. East African Federation: Speaking at a banquet in London about ten days ago Mr. Lyttelton referred to the prospect of eventual East African Federation. This remark has attracted favorable comment from the Conservative press and somewhat more hesitant notice from non-Conservative journals. The idea has been discussed among officials in the Colonial Office for years and among officials it is believed that eventual Federation is the answer to many of East Africa’s problems, particularly that of Kenya. Only by absorbing Kenya into a larger unit can there be progress on the land situation, and “the poison worked out” with respect to race relations.

The difficulties are the position of Tanganyika⁹ and the attitude of the UN. Even though Federation might be highly advantageous for Tanganyika, the UN would probably be critical. The officials have therefore never gone beyond discussing East African Federation among themselves in terms of “in ten to fifteen years.”

The officials were surprised by Mr. Lyttelton’s speech. A draft had been written for him which he characterized as “slop” and he then prepared his own. One of his great weaknesses from the point of view of his subordinates is an inability to distinguish between what he has read in public sources and what he has seen in confidential papers. He knew, of course, that the idea of East African Federation was being tossed about and he proceeded to express his own views on the subject publicly. Possibly, said this officer, this indiscretion was calculated. The Secretary has recently been complaining that too much of the public discussion on Africa is along the same old lines; nor is he always impressed by his officials’ caution.

In any case, the terms of reference of the East African High Commission come up for review in 1955.¹⁰ It may be profitable to have some new thinking on the situation in East Africa although the officers of the Colonial Office can see no way around the difficulty raised by Tanganyika’s status.

Margaret J. Tibbetts

1. He had been sentenced to 7 years at hard labor on Apr. 8, 1953, but on July 15, the Supreme Court of Kenya set aside the conviction on a technicality. However, on Aug. 23, 1953, the East African Court of Appeal reinstated the conviction.
2. Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn entered the Commons in 1950 as the representative for Bristol South-East.
3. William Wedgwood Benn had been raised to the peerage in 1941. He had been a Labour member of Commons.
4. He made these remarks to the All-India Congress meeting in Agra.
5. Ambalal Bhailalbhai Patel was a member of the Legislative and the Executive Councils of Kenya.
6. Joseph Murumbi, of Masai-Goan stock, had attended school in India. He was the Secretary General of the Kenya African Union.
7. Gen. Sir George Erskine was the Commander in Chief, East Africa.
8. Sir Frederick Crawford.
9. Tanganyika was a trust territory.
10. The Commission, which had been appointed in November 1952, had been charged with looking into ways of improving the standard of living of the African population particularly as regards land tenure and development. See East Africa Royal Commission 1953–1955: Report (Sir Hugh Dow, Chairman) Cmd. 9475, 1955.