THE book on Kenya

There are numerous books about Kenya; what makes Scram from Kenya so different from the rest? Answer; it is arguably one of very few books in which the author doesn’t have an axe to grind. Scram includes contributions from black, brown and white, and from Mau Mau leaders, British soldiers, colonial administrators, white farmers, Indian business men, British and Kenyan politicians - you name them…There is a chapter titled 'Colonial Days' which provides background, but Scram is concerned principally with the post- second World War years leading to independence.

Almost since Kenya became a colony it has been in the news. Notable for big game hunting in the 1920s, notorious for its idle, aristocratic, wealthy, hard drinking, drug addicted white settlers in the 30s, even more notorious for the murder of one aristocrat by another in the 40s, (during the war). Then terrorism and civil war which accompanied the black Africans’ struggle for independence in the 50s and 60s.

It didn't stop there. After independence had been achieved in 1963 there was a spate of political assassinations outstanding of which was that of Tom Mboya, a politician who had played such a prominent part in winning independence. In a full page article in Nairobi’s Sunday Nation (31 July 1994), Kenyan writer Kwendo Opanga listed a series of assassinations running from the 60s to the 90s and concluded; “those who perpetrate political murders do so secure in the knowledge that no policeman, no plain clothes security agent, no para-military trooper, no police informer, no watchman even, THROUGHOUT Kenya, dares lift a finger against them”.

In Year 2000 Mau Mau veterans demanded £60 billion compensation for alleged atrocities committed by British security forces in the 1950s and 60s. The claims continue and solicitors briefed by the veterans include Leigh, Day and Co. Reports of pending claims continue.

As we started by commenting, Scram from Kenya is the only book which brings objectivity to the scene and records through the eyes of people involved what happened in Kenya as it moved from colony to republic.

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