40s and 50s Memories
appropriate. A notable event, therefore, was
the visit of the Colonial Secretary, Ian Macleod,
who was clearly making his personal appraisal
of Kenya's readiness for constitutional change.
Macmillan's famous speech in Cape Town
about the winds of change blowing through
Africa was to follow the next year.
Moving on at the start of 1960 I had another year
in Kalenjin territory, this time with the Nandi,
better known than their cousins the Kipsigis
for athletic success. By now it was clear that
constitutional change was accelerating; we
had learned that our neighbouring territory of
Tanganyika would be independent in 1961,
and in mid-year we witnessed the disturbing
collapse of the Belgian administration in the
Congo. This led to thousands of Belgians and
others escaping through Uganda and Kenya as
best they could. From now on the possibility of
future civil unrest and insecurity was never far
from our thoughts. A major preoccupation of
this year was an African election which would
produce representatives to negotiate further
change with the British Government. Not only
did we now have to register large numbers of
voters; we also had to spend a great deal of time
meeting large groups of the Nandi to explain the
implications for them of a rapid move towards
independence for Kenya. I remember having to
make clear that they would not, as they hoped,
be able to recall a member of parliament who
they thought was letting them down.
Early the next year, for family reasons, I was
posted to Nairobi just before our son Christopher
was born. I had a very interesting job as secretary
of the colony's Intelligence Committee, which
sent a monthly report to the Secretary of State
in London. I betray no secrets if I say our main
focus was to keep track of the development of
rival factions in African politics, largely tribally
based, for fear that intercommunal violence
would derail the rapid progress of political
change. I was sent on one memorable mission,
flying in a light aircraft in just one day to three
widely separated provincial headquarters. I
was to report how the provincial commissioners
and intelligence chiefs would view the early
release of Jomo Kenyatta from his seven-year
detention. The unanimous view I brought back
was that it couldn't happen soon enough, and so it was immediately implemented - to the dismay
of some of the new African leaders when the
release of the elder statesman became a key
factor in their calculations.
My third tour of duty started in late 1962. With
independence believed to be imminent and
almost all the British officers in the provincial
administration leaving, I had indicated that
I would now like a posting as No 2 to one of
the new African District Commissioners, and
wondered what 'likely lad' I would end up with.
He turned out to be someone who had joined
the service in the year I was born, with a long
and faithful record as a clerk in the provincial
administration. Alas, he was badly injured in a
car crash and I really saw very little of him in
our district of Homa Bay on Lake Nyanza, so I
ran the district in his absence - for a few weeks
until I was suddenly posted again as District
Commissioner of the large district of Bungoma
on the Uganda border just weeks before the
pre-Independence General Election of mid1963. This
district of over half a million people
had two distinct tribal groups, supporting the
opposing parties in the coming election. Polling
in fact mercifully passed off peacefully.
Very soon after this our daughter Rosamund
was born. There were no suitable facilities
locally so we made a midnight dash 60 miles in
the rain on gravel roads to the larger centre of
Kisumu. When I handed Beth over to the care
of the good sisters one of the nuns, assuming
I lived locally, said, 'You may go home now, Mr
Scott, and come back in the morning.' I spent
the night in the car outside the hospital and a
restless day around town, before Ros made her
appearance in a labour room that was by no
means ready. Within weeks fighting broke out
between the aggressive sub-tribe of the Maasai
who lived on the forest fringes of Mount Elgon
(whose candidate had lost in the election) and
the more 'peaceable' people of the plains.
I was fortunate in not having to resolve this
one, as responsibility for internal security had
been transferred to the police under the new
constitution, which came into effect after the
election. As we were leaving Bungoma on being
posted away I recall we heard of the death of
President Kennedy.
Independence was now only months away
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