§ 7. Mr. Brockwayasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on Ministerial appointments in Kenya following the elections of the new Legislature.
§ 18. Mr. Stonehouseasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will meet leaders of the Kenya African National Union and the Kenya African Democratic Union to discuss the formation of a Government during his visit at the end of March to East Africa.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodI would refer the hon. Members to my reply to the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. G. M. Thomson) on 9th March. As I made clear in a supplementary reply on that occasion, I do not intend to intervene—although naturally I am closely consulted—in the Governor's task of forming a Government.
§ Mr. BrockwayWhilst I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman wants to see 1723 the new Constitution of Kenya get off to a good start, is he not aware that the situation there now is that both the African parties that have a majority are declining to take part in the Administration? Will he take advantage of his coming visit to Tanganyika to spend some time on this problem in Kenya and, in particular, to see Mr. Kenyatta, about whom the trouble largely concentrates, in order to seek to find a solution which will enable a good beginning to be made with the new Constitution?
§ Mr. MacleodI should like to answer the hon. Gentleman in words which I hope will go beyond this House and to people in Kenya. The Governor knows perfectly well that he could today form a strong, able and stable Government from people of all races if he released Mr. Kenyatta. There is nothing that Kenya more desires than a strong and stable Government, and I share that desire to the full, but I made it absolutely clear from the first that matters of law and order are not matters on which one can bargain. I hope, therefore, that men of all races who have studied the Governor's statement and have seen the conditions that he has laid down will be able—and feel themselves doing right for Kenya—to take up the portfolios that will be offered to them.
§ Mr. StonehouseThe Colonial Secretary will know that we wish to be fair to him on this question—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] Is he aware that the attitude he is now adopting may well be regarded as a sop to the extreme right wing in Kenya and that he is flying in the face of reality? A stable administration in Kenya can be formed only if the right hon. Gentleman releases Jomo Kenyatta. Is he aware, first, that 95 per cent. of the population of Kenya want Jomo Kenyatta to be released; and, secondly, that the release of Jomo Kenyatta will, in fact, be a contribution to achieving stability?
§ Mr. MacleodThe House will recognise that I have been asked this question about many men during the eighteen months or so I have been Secretary of State for the Colonies. I have always given the same response; I will in no circumstances bargain about a matter that is fundamental to law and order in the territory.
§ Sir H. OakshottWill my right hon. Friend recognise that most of us regard the consideration of law and order in respect of the future of Jomo Kenyatta as absolutely cardinal and fundamental, but that at the same time, now that the elections in Kenya have taken place—with the result that I think many of the Africans had hoped for beforehand—every step should be taken to encourage them to do what he has just said: to accept the responsibility which those elections have placed upon them and take their part in trying to govern the country in which they live?
§ Mr. MacleodI very much agree with that, and I know that it is in that spirit that the Governor is approaching his present consultations.