It is disturbing to note that the serious situation, in Kenya has been assuming more and more alarming proportions at a time when substantial social, political and economic progress is being made on the Gold Coast. The seriousness of the situation created by the Mau Mau may be gauged by the blood-curdling statement of Colonel Ewart Grogran who at the staid age of 78, is the oldest member of the Kenya Legislative Council. The retired army man said, "Hang the Kikuyu in batches of 25 in public, and send witnesses of the executions back to the Kikuyu reserves to spread the joyful news!"
Such a drastic suggestion could not have been evoked without provocation. Even after the Kenya Government had reported, late in November last, improvement in the situation, Mau Mau terrorism flared up anew and with greater intensity during the festive season. On Christmas Eve, 11 Kikuyu were reported murdered.
Even the basic facts of Kenyan economy predispose certain tendencies of development. From the Indian Ocean to the Protectorate of Uganda, the Crown Colony of Kenya covers 224,960 square miles. The northern part of the country or three-fifths of the whole, is comparatively arid and unproductive. Economic production is therefore, mostly centered in the southern Highlands between 3,000 and 10,000 ft. in elevation and a narrow strip of land along the coast. Five million acres in the Highlands are reserved for European settlers. The main products are coffee, tea, cereals, sisal and dairy products. Out of a population of some five and a half million, 100,000 are Gujeratis from southern India and 40,000 are Europeans. Along the low coastal strip, there is enough rainfall for purposes of cultivation but rather too much heat for human comfort.
In the Highlands, rainfall and temperature help to furnish a haven of rest and an EI Dorado of opportunity to retired colonels and commodores who have been used to prompt obedience from their subordinates. This breed of settlers have the hardiness to withstand the rigors imposed by huge tracts of virgin farmland on which herds of sheep and cattle used to roam, but are singularly deficient in tact and political acumen. Given such unbalanced distribution of rainfall, temperature, productivity and men, certain political and economic realities tend to follow:
Among the indigenous population, about one-fifth belongs to the Kikuyu tribe. The Kikuyu had been dwellers of the Highlands before the influx of European settlers. As their land was being encroached upon by the white settlers, the Kikuyu were herded into reserves where both the soil and the climate were definitely less hospitable. With less and less-productive land and a rapid increase in population due in part to the public health measures which the Europeans had introduced for their own and the Kikuyu's protection, the patterns of tribal life were first disturbed and, in the 'course' of time, totally destroyed. The surplus and displaced population among the Kikuyu migrated, on demand from Europeans for cheap labor and menial service, into urban centers to work in shops, factories and railways. Where once the Kikuyu tended their cattle and farms, they now constitute both the flotsam of Nairobi and the leaders of the indigenous population, irrespective of tribal affiliation. Another symptom of the disintegration of tribal life is found in the fact that tens of thousands of Kikuyu have adopted Christianity, Roman Catholic and Protestant.
Not only have the natives been herded into reserves that are less favorably endowed by Nature, but they have also been prohibited from raising such crops as coffee. The European settlers have the better land and a rainfall suitable for the cultivation of certain crops. These crops have now become their monopoly. Even under such advantageous terms, some settlers have found the going none too easy. Economically, as C. L. Sulzberger of The New York Times put it, “European, Asian and African, each dwelling in his own community, is paid his own wage rate even if doing the same job, with white man getting the lion's share.”
A second phase of such a lop-sided society was a government controlled by white men with a sprinkling of Indians and a lone Kikuyu serving in' the Legislative Council.
A third aspect of the upheaval concerns the place of witchcraft in African society. For centuries, the African has taken refuge in witchcraft, the secret society and the sorcerer's rite whenever he meets with frustration. When a long period of drought needs to be broken, a sorcerer is sent for; when sickness strikes, the medicine man or witch doctor is sought. When a conjunction is effected by an economy and a polity dominated by and for the benefit of the European minority and a social fabric not as yet entirely divorced from primitive forces, the emergence and development of Mau Mau terrorism appear natural if not inevitable.
The name Mau Mau is without any special significance. The objective of the secret society may well be deduced from the above geographical, political, economic and social considerations. Stated in the baldest terms, the ultimate aim of the Mau Mau is the expulsion of Europeans so that the Kikuyu's hunger for land may be satiated, tribal pride may be salvaged and the African, and especially the Kikuyu, way of life may be preserved.
The current methods of the Kikuyu to achieve their end include the creation of terror through murder with heavy panga knives, ritualistic oaths accompanied by mystic slashing as a domestic sanction to insure group solidarity and the use of symbolic sacrifices such as the impaling of goats' eyes on thorns and the smearing of human blood and rotten human flesh as part of the ritual of initiation into the secret organization. Such hocus-pocus, far from being ineffective and ludicrous, have been found, in transmogrified forms, to have astounding effect on group morale in urban and rural societies in North America up to this very day. Under the guise of such symbolistic rituals, normally rational persons have been known to perform incredible feats of human strength and achieve amazing psychic power.
Kenyans, including Kikuyu, are agreed on the need of crushing deviltry and correcting the causes through the immediate institution of drastic reforms. Sir Evelyn Baring, Governor of Kenya, recently returned to Kenya from a consultation trip to London with what he called a new deal to combat Mau Mau. First, Colonel Rimbault was appointed coordinator of the forces, of law and order to see that government decisions are properly and speedily carried out." Secondly, a bill will soon be introduced in the Legislative Council requiring the Kikuyu to carry a record of their employment so that employers may distinguish between the law-abiding Kikuyu and those implicated in the terrorism. Thirdly, a special tax of £20 a year is to be imposed for two years on each member of the Kikuyu as a contribution towards the cost of meeting the emergency. Individual hardship may be lessened by giving district commissioners the power to exempt all those who have cooperated with the forces of law before the date of the announcement and to grant exemptions on the ground of poverty.
This program, which is to be enacted by the Governor in Council, falls far short of being realistic on three counts. First, these contemplated measures do not take care of the long-term objectives. Mr. Blundan, the leader of the European elected members of Kenya's Legislative Council, has insisted on the need for a program for winning the support of the loyal Africans, although the task may be long and arduous. The omission of any concrete measures for improving the lot of the African either to counter-balance the proposed additional punitive action or as a step in improving the lot of the Kikuyu cannot but occasion disappointment to all well-wishers of the Colony.
Secondly, long-term measures are not enough in themselves to save the situation. By the time they have taken root, it may be too late for them to achieve the desired effect. When measures aimed at discouraging terrorist action are taken, psychological advantage may very well be taken of short-term palliative measures in the economic life of the Kikuyu.
Failing this, a third danger must be faced. As one wise observer is reported to have remarked, "Those who are now being driven by frustration to the black magic of the past may at some future date be attracted to Red magic," that is, assuming that the Kremlin has not already taken an active interest in the developments in East Africa. Jim Griffith, ex- Colonial Secretary in the Labor Government, issued the following warning in Parliament, "We are in danger of converting what began as a struggle of all the decent, moderate, loyal people - African, Asian and European - against the Mau Mau into a Black-White struggle."
Should that turn out to be the case, we can rest assured that the Soviet Imperialists will not remain aloof from that struggle. Where they can, they will not hesitate to fan the flame and spread the conflagration. Sir Percy Sillitoe, 64-year old Chief of MI 5 of the United Kingdom, recently suggested that "Red undercover agents keep in touch with the Mau Mau through a big Russian hospital in Addis Ababa. African patients get free medical treatment, courtesy of the Kremlin. Afterwards, they have a curious habit of turning up in trouble spots all over Africa."
In these columns in our January Number, we discussed some aspects of the unrest in Iran. It is perhaps no mere coincidence that the biggest hospital in Teheran happens to be I the Clinic of the U.S.S.R. situated on Khiahan Naderi near Khiahan Ustapha. Patients of the Shia Sect of Islam of Iran also go on pilgrimages to holy places all over the Arabian Peninsula. Mau Mau of the Arabian variety may yet play havoc in the Islamic world.
The Man Who Saw Only Gold
There was a man of Chi who desired to have gold. He dressed up properly and went out in early morning to the market. He went straight to the gold dealer's shop and snatched the gold away and walked off. The officers arrested him and questioned him: "Why, the people were all there. Why did you rob them of gold (in broad daylight)?" And the man replied, "I only saw the gold. I didn't see any people." - Liehtse (Lin Yutang, The Wisdom of China and India, p.1604)