[dehai-news] (The Nation) Kenya: Secret land deal made Kenyatta first president


New Message Reply About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: emmanuel (emmanuel@bayou.com)
Date: Mon Sep 22 2008 - 23:09:56 EDT


*Kenya: Secret land deal made Kenyatta first president

*The Nation (Kenya) <http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/> -
September 22, 2008.

Nairobi (Kenya) - Fresh evidence pieced together by the Sunday Nation
confirms widespread speculation that Kenya's first president Jomo
Kenyatta entered a secret pact with the British government not to
interfere with the skewed land distribution at independence.

In return, the British would clear his way as independent Kenya's first
leader which looked impossible only three years to freedom. Kenyatta
would later extract a similar pledge from his successor, retired
president Daniel arap Moi.

The information is contained in the secret papers of the late Sir
Michael Blundell, the white settler leader who acted as the go-between
Kenyatta and the British government in sealing the deal.

It is corroborated in the secret notes of Kenya's second vice president,
the late Joseph Murumbi deposited at the Kenya National Archives. The
land question haunts the country to this day, an entire generation after
Kenyatta's death.

Early this year, the country was engulfed in the worst incident of
bloodshed, displacements and destruction of property since independence.

Though the excuse for it was the disputed results of 2007 election, many
agreed the underlying tinderbox was the historical disputes especially
on the land issue.

The background to the secret pact is a memo Blundell wrote to then
Kenya's colonial governor Malcolm MacDonald on the possible leader of
independent Kenya after it was decided the country must be granted
freedom in early 1960s.

Blundell zeroed in on four men. Tom Mboya who Blundell described as, "a
robust trade unionist and political schemer who had deep pockets, thanks
to his American friends".

The second was the "demagogic Oginga Odinga who held great charm with
the rural African folk but was clearly in the payroll of the Soviets".

Ronald Ngala was the third man and who Blundell described as "an
eccentric coastal preferred by the settlers and supported by the small
ethnic communities, but who could not muster enough numbers to hold the
new country together".

The last possibility, wrote Blundell, was Jomo Kenyatta who he described
as "the wild card of native politics in the colony".

Kenyatta was in prison at the time on charges of managing the outlawed
Mau Mau movement.

Blundell recommended Kenyatta as the "possible compromise candidate who
could bring together the two major African blocs headed by Mboya and
Odinga and probably reach out to the minority group led by Ronald Ngala
and Daniel arap Moi".

On the basis of Blundell's assessment, the colonial governor sought
permission from London to quietly explore the possibility of Kenyatta as
first leader of independent Kenya.

The reply came fast.

In a cable to the governor, the colonial secretary, Mr Reginald
Maudling, said upon consultation with the new prime minister, Harold
MacMillan, it had been decided that "the possibility of Jomo Kenyatta as
leader of independent Kenya be looked at without any delay".

He went on to say that given Kenyatta's exalted status as a freedom
fighter arising from the Kapenguria trial, he would be the best person
to unite the new country "but only if he could personally give assurance
that he had abandoned the extremist anti-white views he held before his
imprisonment".

The colonial secretary said it was particularly important that
Kenyatta's position be known on the question of the white settlers in
colonial Kenya and what economic policies he would adapt in the event he
became the first leader of the independent nation.

He suggested that Sir Michael Blundell be assigned the job of assessing
the possibility of working with Kenyatta.

Blundell was immediately dispatched to Lowdar where Kenyatta was held.

After a couple of secret meetings and where Blundell reported "positive
progress", Kenyatta was re-located to, in the words of Blundell, a
decent home in Mararal "where he could be with his family, have a
library and once in a while take a glass of his favourite wine".

In a secret memo to the colonial secretary, governor MacDonald talked of
"great success by Blundell" and recommended that Kenyatta be "set free
the soonest possible so that he could take his rightful place as leader
of the new Kenya".

         ----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----


New Message Reply About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2008
All rights reserved