I have added an exact copy of a White Paper my father was given about the second tier of oath taking ceremonies the Mau Mau introduced when they started to get attrition in their ranks. It will be interesting to see if it stays there. 

 I was born in Kenya but left in 1955 to go to Navel College. The bull about how badly the settlers treated the Africans is sadly misplaced. Sure, there were some pigs amongst the whites, mainly amongst the Boars and some of the ignorant smart ass red-necked British administrators. However the settlers I knew and went to school with were generally very caring for their workers. My father went to Kenya in 1926 and when he left in 1966 he had many of the same families working for him. We still communicate with some of them. 

 As I recall only a handful of settlers were killed, and most of those because they were looked up to by the Africans – such as Dr Ruck. If they had been such a despicable mob surely more would have been attacked. My father was in the top 10 of a Mau Mau hit list that was seized. Yet, because he respected and loved us, our houseboy Gashia disappeared until after the emergency because he had been oathed to murder us. 

 There is also a lot of bull about the whites taking up land that was being farmed by the Africans. According to UN estimates, the national total population rose by 28% from 6,416,000 in 1950 to 8,189,000 in 1960; by 37% to 11,253,000 in 1970; by 46% to 16,466,000 in 1980; by 36% to 22,400,000 in 1987; and by 24% to an estimated 27,885,000 in 1995. About 75% of the population lives on only 10% of the land. 

 In the 40s and 50s there certainly was no evidence that Africans had farmed or even grazed large tracts of East Africa because. Lord Delemare injected his family wealth into trying to find out why apparently good grazing land could not sustain herds of cattle and sheep. After a lot of research and observation he found that it was simply the need for simple salt licks containing essential minerals. 

 As I recall, most of us wanted the Brits out just as much as the Africans. In fact I believe if Jomo had not initiated a change the settlers would have!