Imperial Reckoning

by Caroline Elkins

  28. RH, Mss. Afr. s. 2095, Terence Gavaghan, Corridors of Wire, 26, 32–33.

  29. Terence Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dung Beetles: A “Man in the Middle” of Colonial Administration in Kenya (Devon: Arthur H. Stockwell, 1999), 217.

  30. John Cowan, “The Mwea Camps and Hola,” no date (seen courtesy of Cowan); and KNA, AH 9/21/215, J. Cowan to J. H. Lewis, “Transfer of Detainees Ex Manyani,” 7 December 1956.

  31. PRO, CO 822/802/148, memorandum from Cusack, “Detention Camps—Progress Report No. 34,” 12 December 1956; KNA, JZ 6/26/51, “Minutes of the Nineteenth Meeting of the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee—11 March, 1957” KNA, JZ 18/7/41A, Annual Report 1956—Aguthi Works Camp, 20 January 1957; KNA, JZ 18/7/54A, E.C.V. Kelsall, officer in charge, Gatundu Works Camp, Annual Report, 25 January 1957; and KNA, JZ 18/7/39A, R.J. Rowe, officer in charge, “Subject: Annual Report: 1956,” 7 January 1957.

  32. PRO, CO 822/1249/1, telegram no. 104 from Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 5 February 1957.

  33. Ibid.

  34. KNA, JZ 6/26/54, “Report of a Visit of Members of the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee to Thiba Camp on 8th April, 1957.”

  35. PRO, CO 822/1249/3, telegram no. 144 from Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 16 February 1957.

  36. Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dung Beetles, 226–27. Gavaghan also described to me the recorded scene on several occasions and with great zeal.

  37. Terence Gavaghan, interview, BBC Correspondent, “Kenya: White Terror,” 17 November 2002.

  38. Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dung Beetles, 231.

  39. PRO, CO 822/1251/1, secret letter from Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 25 June 1957.

  40. PRO, CO 822/1251/E/1, memorandum from Eric Griffith-Jones, “‘Dilution’ Detention Camps—Use of Force in Enforcing Discipline,” June 1957.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Ibid.

  43. PRO, CO 822/1251/7, telegram no. 53 from secretary of state for the colonies for Baring, 16 July 1957; and PRO, CO 822/1251/8, telegram no. 597 from Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 17 July 1957.

  44. RH, Mss. Afr. s. 2095, Terence Gavaghan, Corridors of Wire, 143.

  45. Ibid., 90.

  46. Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dung Beetles, 233–34.

  47. The literal translation of Karuga Ndua is “one who jumps over a beer brewing pot.” This nickname has an idiomatic meaning in Kikuyu because a ndua, or beer-brewing pot, was a very precious commodity. Therefore, if one jumped over it then he or she was considered willing to risk or make big trouble. Karuga Ndua is, therefore, translated here as the Big Troublemaker.

  48. Anonymous, interview, 14 December 1998.

  49. Samson Karanja, interview, Ngecha, Limuru, Kiambu District, 28 February 1999.

  50. George Maingi Waweru (General Kamwamba), interview, Muhito, Mukurweini, Nyeri District, 1 March 1999.

  51. RH, Mss. Afr. s. 2095, Terence Gavaghan, Corridors of Wire, 92.

  52. Charles Mwai, interview, Ngorano, Mathira, Nyeri District, 21 March 1999.

  53. Wachira Murage (General Mwangi wa Kirira), interview, Aguthi, North Tetu, Nyeri District, 1 March 1999.

  54. Anonymous, interview, 14 December 1998.

  55. Kagombe, interview, 24 February 1999.

  56. Askwith, interview, Cirencester, England, 9 June 1998; and personal correspondence with the author, 31 July 1998.

  57. Murage, interview, 1 March 1999; Kagombe, interview, 24 February 1999; anonymous, interview, 14 December 1998; Karanja, interview, 28 February 1999; and Waweru, interview, 1 March 1999.

  58. Memorandum from T. G. Askwith to the chief secretary, “Rehabilitation,” 16 December 1957 (seen courtesy of Askwith).

  59. Ibid.

  60. T. G. Askwith, personal correspondence with the author, 31 July 1998.

  61. Cowan, interview, 24 July 1998. Note here that when Cowan states Askwith “got no honor,” he is referring to an Order of the British Empire (OBE) and a Member of the British Empire (MBE). For those in the colonial service, such distinctions were of greatest importance. That Askwith received neither an OBE nor an MBE was a deliberate oversight by the British colonial government.

  62. Terence Gavaghan, interview, London, England, 29 July 1998.

  63. Askwith, interview, 9 June 1998.

  64. KNA, AH 6/5/53, monthly report of the Ministry of Defence, July 1957. Also note that Gavaghan, as of the summer of 1957, was taking in on average two hundred new detainees into the five Mwea camps each week. At one point, however, he and his staff received as many as five hundred detainees at once, though this resulted in the use of a “significant amount of force.” Gavaghan, interview, 29 July 1998; and PRO, CO 822/1249/24, Colonial Office memorandum, “Detention Camps,” October 1957.

  65. KNA, AB 1/108/21, memorandum from T. Gavaghan to provincial commissioner, Central Province, “Manyani Special Detention Camp,” 20 August 1957.

  66. Memorandum from T. G. Askwith to the chief secretary, “Rehabilitation,” 16 December 1957 (seen courtesy of Askwith).

  67. Eric Kamau Mithiori, interview, Mugoiri, Kahuro, Murang’a District, 16 January 1999.

  68. “Bren Gun Used to Quell Riot,” East African Standard, 24 August 1957.

  69. The Colonial Office became aware of Harrison’s treatment of detainees at Athi River through the minutes of the chief secretary’s Complaints Co-Ordinating Committee that were forwarded to London. When the Athi River riots occurred in April, London surmised that there was a causal connection between Harrison’s alleged behavior and the furor of the riot. Later, in November 1957, Harrison and the others were “honourably acquitted” of any wrongdoing in Athi River Camp. See PRO, CO 822/1253, “Minute No. 745 (Kajiado SD.3/57)—Alleged assault of Athi River detainees,” 10 June 1957; and “Minute No. 866 (Kajiado SD.3/57)—Alleged assault of Athi River detainees,” 20 November 1957. Also PRO, CO 822/1253, minute to file, Hull, 28 June 1957.

  70. For details on Hugh Galton-Fenzi’s appointment and the adoption of the dilution technique at Athi River, see KNA, AB 1/86, “Rehabilitation Athi River, 16/5/58–15/3/59.”

  71. Paul Mahehu, interview, Kirimukuyu, Mathira, Nyeri District, 23 January 1999.

  72. Munyinyi Githiriga, interview, Murarandia, Kiharu, Murang’a District, 20 February 1999.

  73. KNA, JZ 7/4/193, letter from Athi River Detention Camp to the Ministry for Defence, 7 August 1957.

  74. KNA, AB 1/86/5/1 and KNA, JZ 6/25/206A, “Report of a Visit to Athi River Detention Camp,” 23 April 1958.

  75. KNA, JZ 6/26/55, David Wanguhu, “A Report on a Visit to Embu Work Camps,” May 1957.

  76. PRO, CO 822/1251/1, letter from Governor Baring to the secretary for state for the colonies, 25 June 1957.

  77. Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dung Beetles, 235.

  78. PRO, CO 822/1258/E/27, “General Report on the Mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross,” no date.

  79. Note that in April 1957 nearly 5,000 of the reported 6,817 Mau Mau prisoners were held in Embakasi. See KNA, AB 1/89/39, Seaward—community development officer in charge of Nairobi Area, Annual Report—Nairobi Area, 3 April 1957. For Public Works Department and prison labor in Embakasi, see KNA, AB 1/90/64, minister for works and minister for commerce and industry, memorandum “Embakasi Airport—Progress Report,” 18 December 1956; and KNA, AB 1/90/65, Magor to Lewis, “Supply of Prison Labour for the Embakasi Airport,” 27 December 1956.

  80. Nearly 90 percent of those ex-convicts sent to Mara River and Ngulot camps—which were adjoining—were classified as “Z,” and sent to the Mwea camps (KNA, AB 1/96/22, message via prison radio 12/7/57, 2:20 p.m., Gavaghan to Ministry of Defence). Note that the Prisons Department took over all so-called rehabilitation responsibilities in the prisons as of July 1957. Prior to this takeover there were some trial attempts to run-down the prisons. These attempts coincided with the beginning of the dilution technique. Those convicts remitted to DDOs under the Form C procedure and classified as “Y2” were sent to Kamit
i Downs Prison, for eventual release to the district camps. “Y1s” were sent to Mara River, where cooperative detainees (i.e., those reclassified as “Y2s”) were sent to district camps, and those deemed uncooperative (i.e., those reclassified as “Y1” or “Z”) were sent to Mageta Island. Finally, all “Zs” were sent to Ngulot Camp, where those reclassified as “Y2” were sent to district camps, and all those reclassified as “Y1” or remaining “Z” were sent to Mageta Island. This movement policy was abandoned when it was decided to run-down Mageta Island Camp. Instead, Mara River and Ngulot camps were used for all Form C releases from the Mau Mau prisons. All “Zs” were eventually transferred to the Mwea camps for dilution. KNA AB 1/89/39, Seaward—community development officer in charge, Nairobi Area, Annual Report—Nairobi Area, 3 April 1957. Also, for reference to the hard-core “Zs” being sent to Karaba Camp, see PRO, CO 822/1252/25, letter from Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 4 September 1958.

  81. KNA, AB 4/21/1/1, S. H. La Fontaine, “Report of Work of Review Committee of Mau Mau Prison Sentences from 1955 to 1957,” March 1958. Note that prior to the move to increase the Review Committee’s approval rate, those convicts recommended for release were not transferred to district camps but to Kamiti Downs Prison. There, all those ex-convicts who were not from Fort Hall or Meru were sent to Gathigiriri Camp for further softening up before they were sent back to their districts. All ex-convicts who hailed from Fort Hall or Meru were sent directly to a district camp. KNA, AB 18/12, memorandum, “Movement of Detainees,” 20 October, 1956.

  82. PRO, CO 822/1252, letter from Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, April 1958.

  83. Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dung Beetles, 238.

  84. PRO, CO 822/1234/49, letter from Baring to Lennox-Boyd, 24 June 1958.

  85. John Nottingham, interview, Nairobi, Kenya, 7 August 2003.

  86. PRO, CO 912/19/30, Parliamentary Questions, 16 July 1957.

  87. For the screening clerk’s testimony, see East African Standard, “Camp beatings alleged,” 6 July 1957. For the judge’s verdict, see East African Standard, “Five Acquitted of Works Camp Murder—Jail for Assault,” 11 July 1957.

  88. East African Standard, “Camp Officials Facing Inquiry, Commons Reply,” 18 July 1957. While there was no criminal investigation into the culpability of the European officers in charge of Gathigiriri Camp, Lennox-Boyd stated that an internal disciplinary inquiry was taking place under the chairmanship of the Kenya solicitor general, Mr.D. W. Conroy, QC. Conroy would eventually find there was no wrongdoing on the part of the European officers responsible for the camp. Throughout the Emergency, Conroy would play an important role in investigating internally allegations of wrong-doing in the Pipeline. He would later help to direct Nairobi’s investigation into the Hola massacre.

  89. PRO, CO 912/19/30, Parliamentary Questions, 16 July 1957.

  90. Ibid., 29 July 1957.

  91. Ibid.

  92. Ibid., 18 April 1957.

  93. Observer, 8 June 1958.

  94. Ibid.

  95. PRO, CO 822/1701/13, telegram no. 397 from secretary of state for the colonies to Baring, 10 June 1958.

  96. Kenya Legislative Council Debates, vol. 76, 11 June 1958, 1701–2.

  97. Ibid., 1703.

  98. Ibid.

  99. PRO, CO 822/1701/30, memorandum, “UK Policy of excluding/restricting journalists access to Prisons,” 16 June 1958.

  100. Note that the newspapers covering the Lokitaung allegations included the Liverpool Post, Yorkshire Post, Daily Herald, Daily Worker, Daily Telegraph, Manchester Guardian, Times, Glasgow Herald, Birmingham Post, and News Chronicle. Not surprisingly, those issuing demands for an independent investigation were those typically representing the views of the left.

  101. “London Diary,” New Statesman and Nation, 21 June 1958.

  102. PRO, CO 822/1705/7, letter from David Astor to secretary of state for the colonies, 4 July 1958.

  103. PRO, CO 822/1705/7, enclosure to letter from David Astor to secretary of state for the colonies, 4 July 1958. Copy of article from “383 Detainees and 25 long sentenced Convicts, situated at Mariira Works Camp,” 16 June 1958.

  104. PRO, CO 822/1705/10, letter to Sir Evelyn Baring from Walter Coutts, 5 July 1958, with enclosure “Report Telephoned by D.C. Fort Hall, 4th July, 1958.”

  105. PRO, CO 822/1705/12, letter from Alan Lennox-Boyd to David Astor, 14 July 1958.

  106. PRO, CO 822/1276/3, secret savingram from Governor Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 26 September 1958; and PRO, CO 822/1276/6, secret savingram from Governor Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 7 October 1958.

  107. PRO, CO 822/1276/11, report on Disciplinary Investigation into Assistant Superintendent D. D. Luies, officer in charge, Gathigiriri, 21 October 1958.

  108. PRO, CO 822/1276/16, letter from D. W. Conroy to F. D. Webber, 25 November 1958; and Reuters, “Report on Verdict in Macharia Case,” 20 November 1958.

  109. PRO, CO 822/1271, “In the Matter of the Mau Mau Detention Camps in Kenya—Affidavit of Victor Charles Shuter,” 10 January 1959.

  110. Ibid.

  111. “I Was Jailed Without Trial,” Daily Mail, 2 February 1959.

  112. PRO, CO 822/1270, statement by Captain E. Law, no date.

  113. PRO, CO 822/1276/35, sworn affidavit of Leonard Bird, 11 February 1959.

  114. PRO, CO 822/1276/34, sworn affidavit of Anthony Julian Stuart Williams-Meyrick, 9 February 1959.

  115. Motion quoted in PRO, CO 822/1269/1, “House of Commons Extracts from Official Order of Papers,” 3 February 1959.

  116. PRO, CO 822/1269/7A, telegram no. 153 from secretary of state for the colonies to Amery, 22 February 1959.

  117. PRO, CO 822/1269/3, secret telegram no. 133 from Baring to Amery, 9 February 1959.

  118. PRO, CO 822/1269/8, secret telegram from Baring to secretary of state for the colonies, 22 February 1959; and PRO, CO 822/1269, “Background of Those Europeans Who Have Made Allegations,” no date.

  119. PRO, CO 912/21/20, parliamentary questions, 12 February 1959. See also PRO, CO 822/1242 and CO 822/1243, “Detention of Richard Achieng Oneko under emergency regulations in Kenya” PRO, CO 822/1244, “Detention of Antonio Rudolfo Jose Pio Pinto under emergency regulations in Kenya” and PRO, CO 822/1245 and CO 822/1246, “Detention of former Senior Chief Koinange under emergency regulations in Kenya.”

  120. “Kenya Inquiry Refused,” Daily Telegraph, 25 February 1959.

  121. “No Inquiry in Kenya,” New Statesman and Nation, 28 February 1959.

  122. “Fair Play for Mau Mau,” Economist, 28 February 1959.

  123. KNA, MSS 115/51, Press Office, Handout no. 142, “Death of Ten Detainees at Hola,” 4 March 1959.

  124. Barbara Castle, Fighting All the Way, (London: Macmillan, 1993), 288.

  125. RH, Mss. Brit. Emp. s. 527/528, End of Empire, Kenya, vol. 1, Barbara Castle, interview, 118.

  126. Cmnd. 778, Documents relating to the deaths of eleven Mau Mau detainees at Hola Camp in Kenya (London: HMSO, 1959), 18.

  127. Alistair Horne, Macmillan, 1957–1986 (London: Macmillan, 1989), 174.

  128. Gakaara wa Wanjau, interview, Karatina, Nyeri District, 22 February 1999; and Gakaara wa Wanjau, Mau Mau Author in Detention (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1988), 198–205.

  129. Cmnd. 816, Further Documents relating to the deaths of eleven Mau Mau detainees at Hola Camp (London: HMSO, 1959), 18.

  130. Ibid., 23.

  131. For a thorough assessment of the government’s findings into the sequencing of events at Hola, see Record of Proceedings and Evidence in the Inquiry into the deaths of eleven Mau Mau detainees at Hola Camp in Kenya, Cmnd. 795 (London: HMSO, 1959); Documents relating to the deaths of eleven Mau Mau detainees at Hola Camp in Kenya, Cmnd. 778 (London: HMSO, 1959); and Further Documents relating to the deaths of eleven Mau Mau detainees at Hola Camp, Cmnd. 816 (London: HSMO, 1959).

  132. Paul Mahehu, interview, Kirimukuyu, Mathira, Nyeri District, 23 January 19
99.

  133. Ibid. Note the number of dead and injured are confirmed in the British colonial government’s inquest reports.

  134. Documents relating to the deaths of eleven Mau Mau detainees at Hola Camp in Kenya, Cmnd. 778, 4, 14.

  135. Ibid., 16–17.

  136. For example, “Hola Shown to be neither a ‘Horror’ nor ‘Holiday Camp,’” East African Standard, 5 June 1959.

  137. PRO, CAB 128/33, cabinet minutes, 4 June 1959. For further discussions by the cabinet ministers over the Hola massacre and the future control over British colonial rule in Kenya, see PRO, CAB 128/33, 34 (3), cabinet minutes, 11 June 1959; PRO, CAB 128/33, 42(3), cabinet minutes, 16 July 1959; and PRO, CAB 128/33, 43(2), cabinet minutes, 20 July 1959.

  138. PRO, CO 822/1261, minute to file from Gorell Barnes, 4 June 1959.

  139. The Fairn Commission was comprised of R. D. Fairn, Sir George Beresford-Stooke, and Canon T. F. C. Bewes, who had taken his concerns about brutality to the British public in the early years of the Emergency. Though the commission’s mandate was only to make recommendations into the future of detention in Kenya, it nonetheless reported on several facets of the Pipeline’s history. For example, the committee members expressed their alarm over the use of “‘shock’ treatment” in the camps as a way of forcing detainees to confess, and their insistence that “in no circumstances should [‘shock treatment’] be employed in the future.” See Report on the Committee on Emergency Detention Camps (Nairobi: Government Printer, 1959), paragraphs 59–61.