§ 22. Mr. Stonehouseasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies on what charges and with what evidence Mr. Japheta Oyangi, former organising secretary of the Nairobi People's Convention Party, was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment in Kenya.
§ Mr. J. AmeryOyangi was charged with and convicted of having in his possession, without lawful excuse, two seditious publications.
The evidence consisted of these documents, together with proof of their possession by Oyangi.
§ Mr. StonehouseWould the Under-Secretary of State explain what these 1102 seditious documents were? Is he aware that the documents were in fact non-Communist information about Kenya? Is it not outrageous that the Kenya authorities should continue their persecution of quite legitimate political organisations?
§ Mr. AmeryI do not think that arises in the least. One publication is called "The Kenya Problem," one sentence of which was held by the court to be seditious. The other was a letter, addressed to an organisation outside Kenya, and again held to be seditious. This was a decision of the court under a section of the law which was in force while the Labour Government were in power and has not since been altered. Mr. Oyangi has not seen fit to appeal.