THE KENYA HOME GUARD SIR,—The attached extract from a letter
I have received from a friend who went out to Kenya some eighteen • months ago, and on whose word I have complete reliance, is self- explanatory and seems to be most revealing: " Yesterday H.'s hone .boy was beaten up and his clothes torn at the local duka because he refused to give money to the Home Guard. Actually he hadn't any, and said he would bring some from his house, but they hit him willy nilly. The Home Guard had already stolen all his hens and vegetables from his home in the reserve. The Home Guard seem absolutely corrupt, as are the Askari—our house boy told us that they had beaten up a cripple because he hadn't 5s., and denounced him as Mau Mau. These are the men who are to assess' whether a man is Mau Mau or not—and it depends if money has been given, or not. The difficulties in exposing these affairs are practically insuperable—no witnesses, no proof, nobody ever to listen amongst the European police (their attitude is: probably Mau Mau anyway, lucky to be alive, we're much too busy, don't bother us !)."
If the British authorities in Kenya are using Africans to control Africans, it is important to see that strict discipline is maintained.
—Yours faithfully,
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