HC Deb 15 December 1954 vol 535 c1747
21. Mr. Fernyhough

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the number of Mau Mau casualties arising from the peppering with anti-personnel bombs of the forests on the south-west slopes of Mount Kenya on 3rd November.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

Ground troops were not able immediately to follow up this bombing and could not, therefore, ascertain whether any casualties had been inflicted.

Mr. Fernyhough

Does not the right hon. Gentleman think that the time has come when we should make a really fresh approach to this problem of Mau Mau? Does he not realise that history is strewn with cases of military oppression? Would he not take note of what the Prime Minister of France has done in Tunisia, and embark upon a policy the ingredients of which are intelligence, imagination, and trust, and see if that will not bring better results than a policy of oppression which so far has admittedly failed?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I have answered the Question on the Paper, and I do not think that a general discussion on Kenya policy arises out of it.