UNDERSTANDING THE GOAN REALITY IN KENYA, AT ANOTHER LEVEL Braz MENEZES bmene...@sympatico.ca
I felt I should make a token contribution to the recent-discussion on the Goa Book Club [1], seeing as how I was born in time to witness some of these events, and later on to actively contribute to the ideals of building a new multi-ethnic Kenya (within the restrictions that the wave of transition changes after Independence, permitted). Augusto Pinto wrote [2]: "Actually (in Kenya) although percentage-wise and position-wise Goans were big, in actual figures it is just these three names that keep getting repeated: Fitz de Souza, Pio Gama Pinto and Joseph Murumbi as he preferred to be called. Most Goans were out of the picture." In fact there are four Goan names that addressed 'Politics' that went beyond the Goan community: Joseph Murumbi, JM Nazareth, Pio Gama Pinto and Fitz de Souza (in chronological order). Of these, Murumbi, early on, was already working closely with Jomo Kenyatta and others while still students in London. There is little to suggest that he 'used' his 50% Goan heritage to demonstrate interest for any specific Goan interests, nor that he had any Goan support. Nor that many Goans had heard of him pre-1950s. JM Nazareth tried his best to provide leadership and stimulate interest for a stronger role for Goans in the evolving political structure of a yet colonial administration, but perennial infighting with other Goan(s) 'leaders' dragged him down. He gave up and instead cast his lot with the powerful and well-founded Indian Congress, who welcomed him, and there he was able to achieve much for the Asian community in Kenya at large. He was generally well respected by most Goans. Gama Pinto breezed into town in 1950/51 from Goa, 'high' on ideology, having spent the previous few years in India as a young man, and having witnessed the departure of the British Raj in 1947. Listening to him as a teenager, I understood he would bring his message to first to Kenya, then to East Africa, and perhaps the rest of Africa. (SFX comes to mind... onward Christian Soldiers!). But he found a very cold reception awaiting him among Goans. Like Nazareth, Pio too eventually gave up on Goans, and found a welcome home in the well-funded Indian Congress and immense political support in the person of the Indian Ambassador, Apa Pant (directly promoting PM Nehru's agenda to 'evict all colonial powers wherever they may be, and set the oppressed free'). The liberation of Goa was already being planned. Pant even provided him with a typewriter and space. He met up with Mr. Makan Singh a forceful leader with the African and Indian trade unions fighting the establishment. Pio's views and writing skills were legendary. He was welcomed with open arms by the Africans fighting for independence. (The Mau Mau Movement.) According to various sources, he soon became a critical link for funds and supplies to the Mau Mau insurgents. But he enjoyed little support among the Goans. In my view there were a number of reasons for this. * Many found his ideas too radical, and were embarrassed for his father's sake; Anton Gama Pinto was an exemplary civil servant of whom Goans were proud. * Even if they secretly sympathized with Pio's thinking, most Goans were civil servants and were not about to bite the hand that fed them. (BTW this also explains why all the views in the E.A Goans Study, appear to be all happy, lovey-dovey experiences, as their pensions continue to be paid by the Crown, and that must dull the objectivity, with which they perceive the past?) * Within weeks of his arrival in Kenya and starting his crusading visits to the Goan Institute, Goan Gymkhana and other social clubs, he had already been labeled a Communist. Catholics were indoctrinated on many fronts to hate communists. * Finally, (like JM before him) Pio just got pissed off with the negative or lukewarm reaction he received from Goans. None seemed to share his grand vision of change -- the change Africans were aspiring to. Goans seemed to be 'big' on small politics, such as control of the Board of the Dr Ribeiro Goan School; running the competing social clubs. They knew their privileged niche in the Civil Service was already well protected by a Goan (I believe his name may have been a Mr. Abreu). Fitz D’Souza enters the political scene in 1952, after the arrest of Jomo Kenyatta. For his trial, the Labour Movement engaged the services of a renowned defense lawyer (Dennis Nowell Pritt, QC), who was assisted by a team of multi-racial lawyers, including H.O.Davis, a Nigerian, and Chaman Lall (rumoured to be a friend on PM Nehru). 'Three bright Indians' in turn assisted them: Fitz De Souza, Achroo Kapila and Jaswant Singh. Kenyatta was incarcerated. Two years later, Fitz is again in the limelight. The Government in 1954 arrested Pio, after 'Operation Anvil'. He too was sent into detention. Fitz was rewarded by Kenyatta and was appointed Speaker of the new legislature at Independence. So back to a comment made by Ben Antao [3]: The majority of East Africa Goans... were not interested in the Kenya politics, did not support the native African struggle for independence, except for Pio Gama Pinto... and Fitz de Souza. Given the summary above, Ben is right. Ben adds: "Sure they remember the 'good old days' when they were coddled and trusted by the English and had the African servants to cook, wash and care for their children, while they played cards and drank in the Goan clubs." This is Ben's interpretation. Goans worked hard, earned respect from all races, played hard and most enjoyed themselves socially. Not everyone could afford servants in the earlier years. Some families, including mine, shared part services for a house-boy or gardener. But employing someone was also 'socially' and 'economically' the correct thing to do, as there were no other jobs, especially for the urban African. It was only in the mid-1950s that secretarial jobs began opening up for Goans, as they replaced the Europeans, who had started to leave Kenya, and then they both needed, and could afford house help. In the early 1960s, African women, who previously could only find work as ayahs, moved in for the first time into these secretarial jobs. Finally, I want to add a comment in general. While the book 'A Railway Runs Through' is well written, and serves the purpose the donors intended it, we must remember it is a very small sample. I fear sometimes that it is made to sound like the final word on the history Goans from East Africa. The Goans played a tremendous part in all aspects of life (other than politics) and the civil Service. It was predominately Goan players that took Kenya to the Olympic teams four times. They excelled nationally in other sports; a Goan broke the record for the four-min mile. We were represented in the media by journalists such as Jawaharlal (Joe) Rodrigues, Cyprian Fernandes, Norman Da Costa and on TV by Ivan Araujo. In the medical profession Goans were prominent throughout the country. As an aside, Dr Arnold Carvalho, told me how his first job as a young immigrant from Bombay was to look after Jomo Kenyatta's health during his detention in remote Lodwar, Kenya. The British used to supply Kenyatta with vast amounts of liquor, hoping he would do himself in. Years later Dr. Arnold used that story to get me to swallow those same pills for my gout. And of course architects, and other entrepreneurs. There is more to making general statements of a Community, whose permanence spanned almost a century. During that time, it was a constantly changing political and changing scenario, in which the societal restrictions that control one period are replaced by new rules, mores and behavioral adaptations. For example, in the Kenya before 1955, residential areas and schools are racially segregated. In the post-1955 period, inter-racial mixing starts to take place. New challenges appear. Crises occur. Goans have proved their adaptability. When situations become untenable, eventually everyone individually, and families collectively, and eventually whole communities migrate. It is not just the Africanisation or Kenyanisation of jobs. Goan history will probably write this period off as the time when Kenya was no more than a highly participative time-share in Paradise. I hope those reading my Matata Trilogy [4], will travel this journey with me. PS. I look forward to reading Margret Frenz (*Community, Memory, and Migration in a Globalizing World: The Goan Experience, c.1890-1980, OUP, ISBN 9780199451753). The excerpt shared on the Goa Book Club [5] was an interesting read. -- Braz Menezes is an architect and urban planner, and a Commonwealth Scholar. He studied Creative Writing at George Brown College and attended the mentorship program at Humber College in Toronto. He is available to speak at schools, writing groups, book clubs, and community groups. He is the author of *Just Matata: Sin, Saints and Settlers* and *More Matata: Love after the Mau Mau*, the first two books in the Matata trilogy, narrated by protagonist Lando. In his historical fiction, Menezes brings to life multi-layered stories that straddle two distinct colonies in the mid-20th century: the bucolic and romantic Goa (Portuguese India) and the adventure-filled, yet precarious world of British Kenya. The reader meets Lando at the age of 10 and witnesses his coming-of-age, as the Portuguese leave India, and the British depart Kenya. http://www.matatabooks.com/ -- [1] The Goa Book Club is at http://groups.google.com/group/goa-book-club Membership is free and open to all, provided discussions are kept focussed on topics on books related to Goa. [2] http://bit.ly/1y6VnHf [3] http://bit.ly/1y6VnHf [4] http://amzn.to/1xOxzmn [5] http://bit.ly/frenz22 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Setting the record rightt: JM Nazareth's entry into Indian politics Jeanne Hromnik Thank you for your broader perspective on East African Goans. It is disconcerting, to say the least, how Goans on the outside interpret the lives of Goans who lived in Kenya and the other East African countries. As regards my father [J.M.Nazareth], however, you are quite wrong. He (and Pio?) did not enter Indian politics as a result of giving up on Goans or being dragged down by perennial Goan in-fighting. On the contrary, he was warned from the beginning to stay away from local Goan politics, and heeded this advice. You may find the following excerpt from his book of interest: In a thesis "Caste and Club: A Study of Goan Politics in Nairobi" which has received, I believe, considerable circulation, and which has been seen by people who can easily identify me though I am not mentioned by name, and in which my career in Indian politics has been briefly described, it is said: "In his career as a Goan politician, within Indian communal organisations this man, like any outsider, had no permanent political following upon which he could depend for election to the various offices in which he was interested. He achieved elective office in these organisations due to divisions within the Indian community. For example, he became an office bearer in the Indian Congress as a result of divisions between Muslims and Hindus. The Muslims would not accept a Hindu leader nor would the Hindus accept a Muslim. As a result of the tensions between these two groups, the Goan was elected to office. In order to achieve this office and his political objectives in the wider circle he had to keep a little away from the Goan comÂmunity." This is unfair to the Indian community and betrays a complete misunderstanding of my rise in Indian politics and of my dissociation from Goan politics. In fairness to the Indian community and myself I must correct this misunderstanding. My friend and benefactor, Thome Emar De Souza, when I arrived in Kenya in 1934, had advised me, on account of the bitter quarrels then rife in the Goan Institute between Dr. A.C.L. De Souza and his opponents, to steer clear of Goan politics. I felt this was good advice and I faithfully followed it until 1946, when I felt forced to come forward after Dr. De Sousa's exit from Indian politics in 1945, to oppose his campaign to form an E.A. interterritorial organisation for Goans alone, taking the Goans out of the Indian community, so that Dr. De Sousa could thus get appointed by the High Commission to represent the Goans on the Central Legislative Assembly proposed to be constituted under Colonial No.191. When I was elected honorary general secretary of the congress at the 18th session in September, 1946 it was not as a compromise candidate between Hindu and Muslim competitors for the office. I believe I was chosen simply because I was regarded as the most suitable man for the job. Several Muslims were elected at that Session. Dr A.H. Ismail (vice-president, central area), Haroon Ahamed, (hon. assistant secretary), G.K. Ishani (hon. assistant treasurer), F.K. Sethi (in the executive from Nairobi) and K.R. Paroo (on the executive from Mombasa). My father also tells the story in his book of his entirely fortuitous entry into politics, via the Nairobi Indian Association, in 1944. Meanwhile, is it not ironic that we are celebrating 50 years of the Kenya Republic when it was high on the agenda of that republic to kick us out? Overall, the Republic of Kenya has a dismal human rights record. And is it accurate to call the Mau Mau an independence movement rather than a Kikuyu nationalist struggle with land as its main agenda? -- Jeanne Hromnik jeannehrom...@gmail.com is an editor in South Africa and the daughter of J.M.Nazareth. See more details at https://payhip.com/b/OcIT or http://bit.ly/jmnazareth