Kenya Emergency To Be Ended

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29051, 13 November 1959, Page 19

Kenya Emergency To Be Ended

IN-2. Press Association— Copyngnt) NAIROBI, November 11 r cy in Ke ”ya. declared seven yfcars ago to help the Government stamp out Mau New YeT 15 " 1 ’ **° be by the earl ? of “he The new Governor of the colony (Sir Patrick Renison) announced this today when he opened the new session of the Legislative Council in Nairobi

Sir Patrick Renison, making his first major speech in Kenya since succeeding Sir Evelyn Baring as Governor on October 23, made it clear, however, that before all emergency powers could be relinquished replacement powers must be passed in law. Details of these would be published tomorrow.

The Governor also announced an “act of grace” that would empty Kenya 'prisons of Mau Mau convicts by the end of the year, although 1079 Africans would remain in detention or under restriction.

He said that of the 141 still held in prison for Mau Mau crimes, 19 would be freed outright. with the remaining 122 including 16 murderers—transferred to detention camps with the chance of complete freedom after rehabilitation.

He said there were still 917 people in detention camps, but that 301 had been accepted for release by their own communities and would be free by the end of the year.

+ v The ,n» emaining 616 - al °ng with tne 122 going from prisons % to detention, would be set free when they ceased to be irrecon-

In addition, about 2300 people serving short terms for minor breaches of emergency laws would be freed “with a minimum of delay.” Sir Patrick Renison said the remissions would mean that by the end of the year there would be no people in prison for Mau Mau offences—and only 738 in detention and 341 under restriction.

Referring to the few terrorists still at large in Kenya, the Governor announced a “last and final offer, and a most generous one, to men who have earned no right or expectation of generosity or leniency.” Those who surrendered before December 31 would not be prosecuted for any offence committed during activities as a terrorist, but would be detained for rehabilitation.

(More than 10,000 Mau Mau , t Afo orists were hilled between 1952 and 1956. Thirty-two European civilians were killed, and 57 European police.)