§ 2.50 p.m.
§ THE EARL OF ALBEMARLEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether—oaths-taking having recommenced, together with attempted murder, and theft of arms from Mr. Osborne, in revenge for his security services—they will reconsider their action in building up Kenyatta's status, as when they arranged the 60-strong Press Conference for him, he being the convicted organiser and manager of Mau Mau, of which the main oath was to swear to harry and expel White Africans from Kenya Colony.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COLONIAL AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF PERTH)My Lords, while I cannot comment on what my noble friend says on the particular case, since a person has been charged in connection with it, I can make clear the position on Kenyatta. It is no part of Her Majesty's Government's policy to enhance the status of this man. When the Governor made his statement on March 1, he said:
The people who form the electorate and the political leaders and the world at large must be allowed to see him and know him as he is now and see his effect on the country and its politics.It was with this in mind that the Governor decided to remove Kenyatta to Maralal where more people, including the Press, could visit him.
§ THE EARL OF ALBEMARLEMy Lords, arising out of that, may I draw the noble Earl's attention to an extract from the Nairobi Standard early this month by an ex-Minister of Kenya? That says:
Is it true that the emergency was proclaimed in Kenya in 1952 because Crown witnesses against Kenyatta and others disappeared and the prosecution could not succeed?Is it true, as stated in the Nairobi Standard, which I have just quoted, that those witnesses disappeared over a period of six months prior to the arrest of Kenyatta, and that their bodies were subsequently dug up in the Central Province?
§ THE EARL OF PERTHMy Lords, just before I came into the House the noble Earl gave me notice of these supplementaries which hardly arise from the original Question. I will certainly look up the Nairobi Standard, to which he referred, and write to him, in so far as I cannot answer him directly now. The Governor, at the time of the emergency, when he was making the broadcast giving the background of reasons for it, said, among other things, that it was the mounting lawlessness, violence and disorders, owing to Mau Mau, which caused the need for the emergency regulations.
§ THE EARL OF ALBEMARLEI thank the noble Earl.