Kenya 1954
JACKSON, COLIN
Kenya 1954 A report from Nairobi By Colin Jackson NAIROBI More than a year has passed since the beginning of the Mau Mau terror. Six British battalions are now in Kenya supporting the local home...
...Topsoil had been swept away and valuable acres lost to cultivation...
...Since their trade is threatened by Mau Mau terrorism, they tend to support the Europeans and do not challenge the latter's supremacy...
...a new serum is used to immunize cattle, and tsetse breeding areas are being sprayed...
...Despite recent military successes, General Erskine believes there is no real military solution to Kenya's problems...
...If the insect can be wiped out, large areas now uninhabitable will be opened up to cultivation and large-scale settlement...
...In the tropical coastal area, training schools have been opened for African smallholders...
...In the final analysis, three things must be done to solve Kenya's economic problem and bring an element of stability to this part of the world: 1. Law and order must replace the present wave of terrorism...
...With Government financing, a start is being made here in experimental group farming...
...Traveling from Nairobi to the Kikuyu reserve area, I noticed that the hills were completely raw-red...
...The Kenya problem is neither military nor political...
...They see the African as an economic threat and are unwilling to give him a place in the colony's political structure...
...Over some large areas, there are as many as a thousand people per square mile...
...American investment here would provide useful foreign exchange for the colony and employment for thousands of land-hungry Africans...
...What is more, if Europeans cleared out, political control of the colony would fall into Indian, not African, hands...
...African soil-conservation officers now tour the villages to promote contour plowing...
...2. The land must be redivided and modern cultivation methods employed...
...These large, ranch-like farms will have to give way to more intensive cultivation...
...Unable to find work, they live by violence, making easy recruits for the Mau Mau...
...Soil erosion complicates the land problem...
...Six British battalions are now in Kenya supporting the local home guard and police...
...Under this pilot plan, native settlers farm a large tract of land, but a Government tractor plows it for them and Government instructors teach them scientific farming...
...A campaign is also being waged against the tsetse fly...
...3. To relieve current pressure on the land, large-scale industrial development must be started...
...The Africans are still incapable of running the country unassisted, and departure of the Europeans would result in a complete collapse of the Government, foreign trade and transport...
...The United States has expressed interest in Kenya's oil, copper and other minerals...
...If the Europeans left, however, the Indians, much better organized and educated than the Africans, would undoubtedly seize power...
...It is worth noting, too, that Communism has a real foothold in Kenya only in certain sections of the Indian community...
...But, as the East African Commander-in-Chief, General Sir George Erskine, recently pointed out, no end to the struggle is in sight...
...To combat this waste, Sir Philip Mitchell, the last Governor, started a land-reclamation program...
...Colin Jackson, a British journalist, is now touring the African continent...
...This would only lead to chaos...
...it is economic...
...But even if the African farms more efficiently, some redivision of the European-farmed highlands is essential...
...Consequently, the Africans seek European farmlands, and many landless laborers flood the cities...
...At present, the 30,000 European settlers have a majority of the representatives in Parliament and control all Government branches...
...Even today, the Indian's exploitation of the African is more ruthless than that of the most reactionary European...
...The European area, about the size of Maryland, probably could be cut in half and still afford British settlers a reasonably comfortable living...
...The land allocated to the Africans cannot accommodate their rapidly expanding population...
...Kenya has over 100,000 inhabitants of Indian extraction...
...After observing the situation first-hand and conferring with the colony's Governor and with European, African and Indian leaders, I am convinced he is right...
...If these things are accomplished, Kenya's three racial groups can work on the problem of living together in mutual respect...
...Some African extremists and, of course, the Communists are calling for the evacuation of Europeans...
...While they enjoy few political rights and have only a few members in the legislature, they do control the nation's commerce and retail trade...
...Kenya is also hampered by a serious lack of industrial development...
...He said this even though the Mau Mau are weaker than at any time since the uprising began...
...The British Colonial Development Corporation also promises extra assistance to Kenya, but it is limited by the demands for British investments elsewhere...
...If the Africans' economic status could be raised, it might also be possible for Kenya's Europeans, Asians and Africans to live together in political harmony...
Vol. 37 • January 1954 • No. 1
