ODINGA'S OPPOSITION TO KENYATTA
By Juan Santos
Since Oginga Odinga resigned as vice-president of the republic of Kenya April 14, under pressure from President Jomo Kenyatta, and announced formation of a new political party, the Kenya African Union, the same day, events in that important East African country have been in rapid flux.
Twenty-seven deputies and senators, four members of the cabinet and five of the seven trade unions in the country expressed solidarity with the new opposition. From now on Oginga Odinga is» certain to command a large mass following, one which is liable to grow should he open an intensive campaign for immediate distribution of land to the peasants, free education and a free health service,’ and against the widespread corruption introduced by the Kenyatta administration.
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Not only is the left: wing of Kenyatta's Kenya African National Union [KANU] -- up to now the only political party of any importance. in the country -- rallying around Oginga Odinga, but also the most important forces of the national resistance movement, the Mau Mau, which conquered national independence from British imperialism through a heroic armed uprising.
It is too early to tell whether Oginga Odinga will set upa .. left-wing nationalist organization just a bit more to the left than . the KANU or whether something more will be initiated.
The accusation of "tribalism" leveiled against Odinga is unfounded. The new party can count on a mass following not only among the Iuo (Oginga Odinga's own tribe), but also among the Kiluyu (Kenyatta's tribe), where most of the Mau Mau fighters were recruited. Kenyatta himself, if he is not engaging in mere red-baiting, appears to fear that the specter of socialist revolution has reared its head.
In a dispatch published in the April 22 Paris daily Le Monde, Kenyatta is. quoted as saying, "We reject Communism as well as capitalism...The heads of the dissident group have become spokesmen of the East." And once again Kenyatta made an open bid to his capitalist backers both at home and abroad: "We are not pillagers. We will uphold the Constitution which demands respect for property rights and fair compensation in case of expropriation."
These developments have not escaped the attention of imperialism, whose uppermost interest is to maintain "order" in Kenya. The country is extremely important among other reasons as the main approach’ from the east to Equatorial Africa (including the Congo) and to the turbulent masses of Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. Uganda and Tanzania have governments which London and Washington consider hostile to imperialism. Zanzibar, constitutionally a part of Tanzania, has undergone a revolution coming closer than any of the other African revolutions to passing into its socialist phase.
Oginga Odinga's break with Kenyatta clearly opens. the possibility of Kenya turning to the left. In fact various British newspapers have stated that if Kenyatta does not proceed cireumspectly he may find himself shortly out of office.
If Kenya turns to the left, this would halt the general counterrevolutionary trend apparent in Africa for the past year and a half. It could become the starting point for a new revolutionary upheaval in all of East Africa. This would represent a... |. deadly threat to the imperialist positions in the copper belt and in South Africa involving billions of dollars in capitalist investments.
Thus it can be expected that the imperialist powers are at this very moment preparing a counterblow -- perhaps a conspiracy. to oust Nyerere- in Tanzania or military intervention in Kenya. Two British warships -- an aircraft carrier and a. cruiser -- were
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reported steaming towards East. African waters in an obvious intimidating move. - :
Britain no: longer has: ‘nilitary bases in Kenya itself. The —_ nearest base is Aden, one of the mainstays of .the imperialist "life line" to the East. But in Kenya nearly 10,000 white settlers have served in the British army. They could be rapidly mobilized into a new fighting force. Kenyatta's own army consists of only 7,000 men, a force too weak to cope with a broad mass movement. It appears, too, that Kenyatta signed a secret agreement whereby the British can : intervene militarily to restore "law and order" should the need arise.
- If ‘the imperialists intervene, Kenyatta will be one of the. first ‘victims as the imperialist schemers seek to instail a more stable regime. The fresh lessons of Indonesia and Ghana should be “borne in mind in this respect.
Extreme vigilance on the part of the African masses and the friends of the African revolution throughout the world is therefore called for lest imperialism succeed in adding a new chapter to its » long history of crimes against the peoples of the black continent.
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