LEFTIST ACTIVITY IN KENYA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00927A004500100003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Sequence Number: 3
• Content Type: REPORT

LEFTIST ACTIVITY IN KENYA
31 July 1964
OCI No. 0342/64B
Copy No..
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
State Dept. review completed
GROUP I Excluded from automatic
downgrading and declassification
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31 July 1964
ACTIVITY IN KENYA
Kenya's leftists, including some key cabinet
members, have become increasingly aggressive since
the country became independent last December. Their
activities have increased Kenya's ties with Commu-
nist countries, and generated what may be an incipi-
ent anti-Western campaign. The prime mover of this
activity appears to be Minister of Home Affairs
Odinga Odinga, whose personal power, ambition, and
freewheeling operations have brought him into in-
creasingly open conflict with Prime Minister
Kenyatta's generally moderate policies. Although
Kenya.tta is aware of most of Odinga's machinations
and is increasingly irritated by them, he has so
far avoided a showdown. The delicate balance of
tribal and political power and the lack of an ob-
vious successor--other than Odinga--point to a con-
tinuation of the present uneasy relationship and
a consequent growth of leftist influence.
Odinga's Apparatus
Although a shrewd politi-
cal opportunist rather than a.
doctrinaire Communist, the 51-
year-old Odinga has neverthe-
less established his power base
largely through his astute dis-
pensing of Communist funds and
scholarships supplied by both
Moscow and Peiping. It has
been estimated that at least
1,000 men in reasonably impor-
tant positions in the govern-
ment, civil service, and trade
unions owe personal allegiance
to Odinga., who has either sent
them to study in Communist coun-
tries or supplied them with
regular financial aid. Several
key members of Parliament al-
most certainly owe their elec-
tion to financial support from
Odinga.
In addition to holding the
important home affairs portfolio,
Odinga is vice president of the
ruling Kenya African National
Union (KANU) and also the undis-
puted leader of the Luo tribe,
second only in numbers and in-
fluence to Kenyatta.'s Kikuyu,
with whom it shares power in a
sort of uneasy tribal coalition.
Odinga. is the only Kenyan leader
other than Kenya.tta, with a na-
tional popular following.
Odinga has used these
various sources of power, inter-
changea.bly or simultaneously,
to operate just as he pleases,
placing supporters where he wants
them, running roughshod through
the domains of other ministers,
and frequently presenting Kenyatta
with accomplished facts which
the latter is unwilling or un-
able to reverse.
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On more than. one occasion
Odinga, has personally selected
students to go to Communist
countries, bypassing both the
minister of education and the
KANU selection committee. As
minister of home affairs, he
was able to remove a Kikuyu
civil servant as head of the
passport department, and replace
him with a loyal Luo. The
Kenyan ambassador to the UN and
US is an Odinga, partisan, as
is the minister of information,
Achieng Oneko. As vice presi-
dent of KANU, Odinga organized
a KANU "Friendship Delegation"
which left Nairobi in June for
visits to the USSR, North Korea,
and Communist China. Last
March, after the Kenyan Govern-
ment decided not to send an
official delegation to the All-
African Peoples Solidarity Or-
ganization (AAPSO) meeting in
Algiers,Odinga sent some of
his followers as delegates in
the name of a, nonexistent "Kenyan
Section of the AAPSO." He also
selected the Kenya.n representa-
tive to the 26 July celebration
in Havana..
This all-pervasive appara-
tus, along with Odinga's appar-
ently tireless energy, has
created a labyrinth of leftist-
oriented activity in many dif-
ferent fields, where all roads
seem ultimately to lead to
Oginga Odinga..
Contacts With. Communist Nations
Kenyatta and other Kenyan
leaders made clear, even before
independence, that they would
seek diplomatic relations and
"nonaligned" ties with Communist
countries. It consequently
comes as no surprise that Com-
munist China., the Soviet Union,
and three East European satel-
lites as well as Yugoslavia,
now have embassies in Nairobi,
and that both Moscow and Peiping
have offered economic aid.
Although his post as minis-
ter of home affairs would hardly
justify such an assignment,
Odinga headed the successful
Kenyan aid-seeking mission to
Moscow and Peiping last April
and May. Kenyatta, aware of
Odinga's penchant for independ-
ent activity, insisted that the
moderate Joseph Murumbi, whose
title is minister of state in
the prime minister's office,
accompany Odinga as a sort of
watchdog.
Nevertheless Odinga managed
to get himself on the May Day
dais in Moscow, along with Al-
geria's Ben Bella. Murumbi later
said that during their stay in
Peiping, although they were
lodged in the same hotel, he
would sometimes be unable to
locate Odinga for periods of two
days. There are indications
that Odinga. may have made infor-
mal agreements with the Soviets
that have not yet become generally
known in Kenya although he re-
portedly had no prior consulta-
tions with other Kenyan ministers
concerned on the substance of the
aid pacts.
Minister of Commerce and
Industry Kiano, another moderate,
told the US ambassador on 14
July that both Peiping and Moscow
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had made "vague" arms offers,
but that both had been rejected.
However, an 11-man Soviet dele-
gation arrived in Nairobi in
early July to commence survey-
ing for technical aid projects.
No one knew for sure who had ar-
ranged their visas, but there
had been no coordination with
the responsible office, the Ex-
ternal Affairs Branch in the
prime minister's office.
The Communist embassies in
Nairobi exploited opportunities
for contacts with influential
Kenyans so rapidly that in March
Kenyatta had to order all civil
service officers to ask his per-
mission before accepting enter-
tainment from foreign embassies.
Kenyatta's action followed a re-
port from his Special Branch
that during a one-month period
28 senior civil servants had been
entertained by the Chinese Com-
munists alone.
Since independence the
flow of students to Communist
countries, necessarily engineered
clandestinely while Britain
ruled the country, has become
something of an open migration.
Owing largely to Odinga's ef-
forts, fellow-traveling now is
an accepted way of Kenyan politi-
cal life. On 12 June the minis-
ter of education answered a par-
liamentary question by admitting
that there were between 1,200
and 1,500 Kenyans then studying
in Communist countries. He
added that the exact number was
unknown because many students
had gone abroad "outside the
normal Ministry of Education
procedures."
His office indeed has been
bypassed. On at least two dif-
ferent occasions Odinga has
selected students to go to Bul-
garia, and spirited them off on
specially arranged fILI-ghts.
in March
ar ere Czechoslovak air-
craft left Nairobi with 50 Ken-
yan students, mostly Luos, for
an unknown destination. Ken-
yatta. was informed of the air-
craft's impending arrival only
two hours before it landed,
and certain other cabinet min-
isters were "informally" noti-
fied. Odinga, was unavailable
for comment. The entire mat-
ter allegedly was kept out of
the Nairobi press on instruc-
tions from Minister of Informa-
tion Oneko. Odinga, appears
also to have used his position
as minister of home affairs to
grant passports to his parti-
sans while denying them to other
students.
Some Kenyan "students" in
Communist countries are receiv-
ing paramilitary training. A
group of five, selected by
Odinga, reportedly returned in
June from several months of
such training in Bulgaria.
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These trainees are said to have
talked openly of "leading the
revolution" in Kenya.
Information Ministry
The Soviets appear to be
making a major effort to gain
a grip on Kenyan news media
and Oneko's Information Minis-
try. Almost immediately after
independence, the state con-
trolled Kenya News Agency (KNA)
began using Soviet-installed
radio receivers and teleprinters
flown in from the USSR, while
Kenyans trained in Czechoslo-
vakia and the USSR arrived to
work in the agency. Others have
reportedly arrived since, and
in June the Czechoslovak News
Agency representative in Nai-
robi was quietly appointed by
Oneko as "informal" adviser and
editorial and training expert
for KNA, although the previous
month Oneko had shown some en-
thusiasm for the suggestion of
naming an American adviser.
Oneko has recently announced
that the Kenya Broadcasting
Company will be nationalized,
and the Soviets plan to build
a powerful radio station in
Kenya.
The US Embassy believes
that Oneko is determined to
thwart all US efforts to break
into the Kenyan information
media, and that he and some of
his subordinates may have been
paid by the Soviets to maintain
a clear field for them. Oneko's
permanent undersecretary is a
Luo considered completely dedi-
cated to the Soviet bloc.
An extreme left-wing Goan
journalist P. G. Pinto, long
resident in Kenya--and the only
Asian detained during the Mau
Mau emergency--is a close as-
sociate of Odinga and Oneko,
and appears to be lurking in
the background of KNA, as well
as engaging in clandestine po-
litical activity on their be-
half. The editor of KNA, con-
sidered "politically reliable"
by Odinga and Oneko, lives in
Pinto's house, and Pinto's
wife is Oneko's secretary. She
has a reputation for losing
letters, shifting appointments,
and otherwise sabotaging--with-
out his knowledge--Western ef-
forts to get to Oneko.
The Nairobi papers some-
what belatedly raised a hue
and cry over the case of the
Kenyan students recently ar-
rested following a fight with
some New York policemen. The
US Embassy believes that in-
structions to run this story
came directly from Oneko and
that he was responding to So-
viet and Chinese pressure to
keep the case alive.
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There are other indications
that the Odinga camp may be em-
barking on a deliberate anti-
Western campaign. In a press
conference in Nairobi on 10 July,
while Kenyatta was out of the
country, Odinga publicly blamed
"imperialists" in Kenya--and
specifically the Western diplo-
matic corps--for having spread
rumors of dissension between him
and Kenyatta. Odinga's permanent
secretary subsequently retracted
this charge, and Odinga admitted
to the US ambassador that he had
no hard evidence to support his
allegations.
Odinga appears to be putting
pressure on the government to
apply to the Commonwealth and
Western embassies the same travel
restrictions within Kenya that
have been enforced against the
himself is reportedly pressing
for the early expulsion of two
members of the British High Com-
mission staff.
Odinga's chief targets ap-
pear to be British expatriates
in the government, and particu-
larly British police officers.
After the cabinet recently
agreed to expel the third-rank-
ing police officer, Odinga took
it upon himself to issue an or- 25X1
der for him to leave within 24
hours. Odinga's purpose was
probably to provoke the resigna-
tion of PoliceCommissioner
Catling
nga will find or invent rea-
sons for dismissing Catling,
and will fire him without con-
sulting Kenyatta.
Political Pressure
Odinga is also working to
undermine Kenyatta on the po-
litical front. He financed the
election campaigns of at least
six members of Parliament, has
reportedly used thugs to re-
orient the thinking of others,
and is wooing several influen-
tial members recently disciplined
by Kenyatta for their role in
the backbenchers' opposition to
the government. Odinga is also
trying to build up support in
organized labor, and appears to
have been responsible for a cur-
rent split in the Kenya Federa-
tion of Labor. Most of the
leaders of the splinter Kenya
Federation of Progressive Trade
Unions are politically and fi-
nancially supported by him and
Oneko.
Odinga encouraged and fi-
nanced,the backbenchers in their
recent unsuccessful campaign to
force the government to set a
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25X1
for .forming an East African
federation: with Uganda and Tan-
ganyika-Zanzibar. Odinga prob-
ably sees in this a chance to
seize the leadership of a popu-
lar issue., and to weaken Ken-
yatta's image throughout the
country as well as his control
over KANU. He also realizes
that federation, if achieved,
would kick Kenyatta upstairs to
the federation presidency and
give him an opportunity to bid
for supreme national power.
Kenyatta's Response
Kenyatta and his moderate
associates--Murumbi, Finance
Minister Gichuru, Minister of
Commerce and Industry Kiano, and
even Tom Mboya, minister of jus-
tice and constitutional affairs
and a Luo--are more or less pain-
fully aware of Odinga's opera-
tions. Odinga's suspected in-
volvement in the Zanzibar coup,
and the ease with which a small
band of leftists overthrew the
Sultan, opened Kenyatta's eyes
to the personal and national
danger represented by Odinga and
his followers.
Although Odinga's actual
involvement in the coup has
never been established, he did,
as minister of home affairs,
hide "Field Marshal" Okello
when the latter fled from Zanzi-
bar. He apparently supplied 25X1
him with money and a car, while
professing complete ignorance
July
Before leaving
for conferences
in
in
early
London
and
Cairo, Kenyatta
refused
25X1
Odinga's demand to be designated 25X1
Some members of the gov-
ernment, reportedly shocked by
Odinga's furious objections dur-
ing a cabinet meeting to Ken-
yatta's decision on the deputy
prime minister issue, feel that
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Prospects
Many factors, however,
seem to militate against any
early confrontation. The Chi-
nese, and particularly the So-
viets, seem to be operating
with considerable caution in
Kenya, apparently not wishing
to jeopardize what probably ap-
pear to them as excellent op-
portunities for long-term gains.
Kenyatta's age--over 65--and the
absence of any successor who can
command anything approaching
Odinga's personal following
probably reinforce their idea.
From Kenyatta's side, old
ties of friendship and the reali-
ties of Kenyan politics make it
unlikely that he will attempt
to dismiss Odinga or lock him
up--moves which probably would
push Odinga into an open bid for
power. Kenyatta needs the sup-
port of the Luos to counter
charges that his Kikuyus have
taken over the government.
Moreover, the Kenyan Army
and police are heavily weighted
with Kambas, who in any showdown
might be loyal to Paul Ngei, a
Kamba member of Parliament who,
prior to the elections of May
1963, withdrew from KANU and
formed a short-lived splinter
party.
Odinga has also recently
been barnstorming among other
tribal areas of Kenya, frequently
bypassing the regular KANU ma-
chinery to make direct contact.
On these junkets he has demon-
strated his popular support, and
lately has begun to expound a
political program. Kenyatta
probably considers that a move
again' Odinga would shatter
the delicate tribal balance that
so far has permitted at least
some degree of national unity
and progress.
The present uneasy rela-
tionship between Kenyatta's
relatively moderate group and
Odinga and his leftists is there-
fore likely to continue. Odinga
will probably intensify efforts
to harass Kenyatta into retiring,
or bring him down through con-
stitutional means such as de-
feat of the government on a sub-
stantive measure, or move him
up through creation of an East
African federation. Meanwhile
Odinga will almost certainly con-
tinue his bribery, cajolery,and
independent machinations with a
view of building up his appara-
tus and following to the point
where he would consider himself
assured of coming to power when
the Old Man disappears from the
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