Following Kenyatta’s release from Lokitaung jail on April 14, 1959, the restriction order issued by Thacker and verified by Baring in September 1954 came into effect right away.
The Northern Frontier District administrative center, Lodwar, is located in Turkana and is around 90 miles (144 km) away from Lokitaung. There, several bungalows had been constructed so that the Kapenguria Six would have somewhere to live after their prison sentence was up. Kenyatta referred to the circumstances as a distinct kind of incarceration. He was given a six-pound stipend each month and could spend two hours shopping in two designated Indian stores. He was not permitted to talk to anyone about politics while on these outings. “A complete monotony, where heat and dust shout their hallelujahs daily,” is how he put Lodwar’s way of life.
In Lodwar, their families could accompany them. His third wife, Ngina, and his two daughters, whom he had not seen since October 1952, arrived a month or so after his arrival. For Kenyatta, the 1959 Christmas was particularly memorable since his brother James Muigai and his daughter Margaret Wambui paid him a visit.
Kenyatta had to stay in the oppressive heat of Lodwar for two years.
British Prime Minister Harold McMillan hinted at the impending independence in his well-known “wind of change” speech on February 3 in South Africa, saying, “This growth of political consciousness is a political fact and our national policies must take account of it, whether we like it or not.”
According to Colonial Secretary Lain Macleod, the March 3, 1959, killing of eleven prisoners at a camp of ardent Mau Mau sympathizers in Hola had already embarrassed Britain – “Hola helped to convince that swift change was needed in Kenya” (Roseburg and Nottingham). McMillan stated unequivocally that he intended to give Africans majority authority in Kenya as soon as feasible during the Lancaster House Conference in January 1960.
The first challenge facing Sir Patrick Renison, Kenya’s new governor, was what to do with Kenyatta. The idea of Kenyatta returning was unimaginable to Europeans. Renison said on March 31, 1960, that Kenyatta’s release would compromise security. After that, he met with Macleod, and upon his return to Kenya, he reiterated his previous position on Kenyatta’s limitations.
Many Kenyans saw the independence movement and Kenyatta’s release as complementary, and the day’s catchphrase was “Uhuru and Kenyatta.” On the other hand, Kanu promised not to join the administration unless Kenyatta was set free. Kenyatta, on his part, argued that African unification was necessary before achieving independence.
Restriction in Maralal
Kenyatta was flown from Lodwar to Maralal in the Samburu District on April 14, 1961. This was the turning point in his exile, as others would later call it. Here, the government determined that Kenyatta should once more meet with members of the international press, as he had done during the trial in Kapenguria eight years prior.
Many white people saw Kenyatta as a representation of the evil powers evoked by the phrase “Mau Mau,” therefore they viewed him through the lens of the newsreel cameras in contrast to the governor’s portrayal of him as the “leader of darkness and death.” He made it plain that, after eight years of being “bottled up” in isolated areas away from public life and international events, he was speaking from a highly disadvantageous position while wearing his leather jacket and speaking English in a slow, controlled voice. He had been severely portrayed in the media at this time. As a result, he exhorted them to write accurate but dramatic stories and to stick to the facts.
Over the course of his four-month stay in Maralal, Kenyatta received numerous visits from leaders of various political parties, religious and racial communities, as well as international powers, lawyers, photographers, doctors, foreign visitors, friends, and priests. Upon their return, all of them were left with the assurance that “Kenyatta was the man to safeguard their rights in an independent Kenya.” Maralal thus provided Kenyatta with the much-needed build-up to his return to the political scene. One of his many guests was Michael Blundell, to whom he conveyed his lack of animosity towards Europeans and stressed the importance of European farmers.
Kenyatta was granted permission to return to his family and his people on August 14, 1961.
Following a week of confinement at Gatundu, Kenyatta saw the Governor at the Governor’s offices, where he was given his walking staff with a black carving and his ring back, signifying his last steps toward freedom. Thereafter, triumphant appearances took place all around Kenya. On October 28, 1961, he took up the president of Kanu. He participated in an interview for the BBC TV show Face to Face on November 26.
Section on History, National Museums of Kenya.
