HC Deb 21 October 1953 vol 518 cc1946-7
13. Mr. Hale

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the number of casualties, by race and tribe, in the fighting in Kenya to the latest convenient date, stating the number of inquests held, the number of prisoners taken and released, the number tried and the number awaiting trial.

Mr. Lyttelton

Total casualties arising from the Emergency, killed and wounded: Europeans, 57; Asians, 24; Kikuyu, 3,743; other Africans, 281. The total number of those screened and of those arrested is 138,235. Of these 82,063 were released, 55,307 have been tried and 865 are awaiting trial. The total number of inquests held is not readily available.

Mr. Hale

Is it not a fact that very few have been held? In face of these appalling figures, will the right hon. Gentleman make a new effort at conciliation? Is he not aware that many of the extreme Right Wing elements in Kenya even are now supporting proposals that some effort should be made to release African leaders and use their mediation to try to restore peace and happiness in Kenya? Surely the longer this goes on the more difficult it gets and the worse and more difficult the cure.

Mr. Lyttelton

The hon. Member is quite wrong in saying that the situation is getting worse and more difficult to cure. I would recommend him to read very carefully the Governor's speech.

Sir H. Williams

Will my right hon. Friend analyse the figures to make sure how many people were killed on each side, because all the Africans have been lumped together and many of them were on the respectable side and not on the revolutionary side?

Mr. S. Silverman

When the right hon. Gentleman says that matters are getting progressively better, will he bear in mind the ancient and honoured warning against the belief that one can secure peace only by creating a desert?

Mr. Hale

Is the Minister aware that the overcrowded state of the Reserve is getting very much worse indeed and that the drift of population from Nairobi and the farms is making the economic situation even more difficult?

Mr. Lyttelton

Agricultural progress in the Kikuyu Reserve is extremely marked and that, and a very large number of other things which are happening in Kenya, falsify the hon. Member's gloomy prediction.