§ LORD OGMOREasked Her Majesty's Government whether they now have any statement to make about the recent resignation of Colonel Young from the Kenya Police Force.
LORD LLOYDThe following statement has the agreement of the Kenya Government and Colonel Young.
Colonel Young has explained to the Secretary of State that the reasons for his relinquishing his appointment as detailed to His Excellency the Governor at the time of his resignation were not directly concerned with the policy adopted by the Kenya Government on the Police Commission recommendation that members of the Kenya Police Force should be given the status of a constable at Common Law. While the policy embodied in the Kenya Sessional Paper did not go as far in implementing this recommendation as Colonel Young could have wished, he told the Secretary of State that he would have been prepared to accept this and try to make it work.
There was, however, a difference of opinion between the Kenya Government and Colonel Young on the functions of the Police Force in the Emergency. It was their common aim that the Kenya Police should be regarded as impartial custodians of the law and should command the trust and confidence of the public. Colonel Young explained to the Secretary of State that in his view no progress towards this aim could be made unless the Police were given a greater measure of independence in the performance of their functions than they at 970WA present possessed in the Emergency areas and unless it was recognised that the respect of the public for the impartial administration of the law was seriously jeopardised by the activities of the Home Guard whose powers were liable to abuse owing to their lack of discipline. The Kenya Government for their part were determined to eradicate abuses among members of Kikuyu Guard. But they considered that for so long as the present violent phase of the Emergency lasted it was essential that the Administration, the Police and the military should jointly concentrate all their efforts on bringing terrorism to an early end and that for this purpose there must be the highest degree of integration and co-ordination between the three bodies at all levels. The Home Guard in their view had been playing and must play an essential part in the campaign and while they recognised that in such an irregular unit, in which the standard of discipline could not be raised in a short time, abuses might occur and regrettably did occur in some cases, they were taking effective measures for greater control to prevent their occurring in the future.
It was in these circumstances that Colonel Young expressed a lack of confidence in the police policy of the Kenya Government and felt that he could not make further progress in reorganising the Force in conformity with his ideas during the remaining three months of his secondment, and relinquished his appointment. The Kenya Government regret that he felt unable to continue as Commissioner for the full year and are grateful for the very valuable work he has done during his tenure of the post.
House adjourned at four minutes after six o'clock.