§ 9. Mr. Bennasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many complaints of desertion by African employees under the provisions of the Kenya Employment Ordinance, Chapter 109, Section 60 (1), have been made to the Kenya Police in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and whether he will make a statement of policy on the future of this statutory provision to enforce civil contracts by means of criminal sanctions.
§ Mr. ProfumoAs the Answer contains figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. BennIs it not a fact that, under the provisions of this Ordinance, an ordinary worker who is absent from work can be charged and brought before a police court on a charge of desertion and be sentenced by that court, and is it really desirable that legal sanctions should be used to underpin the low wage structure in Kenya? Is the Minister really satisfied with this position?
§ Mr. ProfumoIf the hon. Gentleman reads my Answer, he will see that the Kenya Government are about to introduce amending legisation to repeal this section.
§ Mr. BennAs the Minister was perfectly able to give that reply in response to my Question without pretending that a number of figures prevented him from doing so, I should be grateful, Mr. Speaker, if you would give some Ruling as to the circumstances under which a Minister can give what, I suspect, was a slightly 950 misleading Answer in reply to my Question?
§ Mr. SpeakerI think that the Minister said that there were figures in the Answer and therefore he would circulate them. That is quite common. Following are the figures: The numbers of sworn complaints were as follows:
In only a relatively small percentage of cases were legal proceedings taken, due to the difficulty of tracing deserters. Under amending legislation which the Kenya Government is about to introduce, Section 60 of the Employment Ordinance will be repealed.
1952 1,642 1953 1,320 1954 1,173 1955 1,750 1956 1,730