NAIROBI, Kenya,
Dec. 12 1978
[SIZE=5]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Daniel_arap_Moi_1979b.jpg/220px-Daniel_arap_Moi_1979b.jpg
Jamhuri Day 1978[/SIZE]
President Daniel arap Moi announced today the release of all political detainees in Kenya, a group of 16 persons that includes three former members of Parliament and the country’s best known novelist.
The decision to free the dissidents without trial was made public by the President at the end of his speech during the commemoration of the 15th anniversary of Kenyan independence. The amnesty had not been anticipated, and the announcement caught the crowd of celebrators by surprise. It was greeted by an enormous cheer rising from the sloping hillside park in the center of Nairobi where tens of thousands had gathered.
Since taking over as President following the death in August of Jomo Kenyatta, Mr. Moi has embarked on a policy of ethnic reconciliation. He has begun campaigns against corruption and pledged to eradicate tribal cronyism and nepotism.
On several occasions the new President has lashed out against those who had predicted that Kenya’s economic growth and relative prosperity would collapse in a power struggle after the death of Mr. Kenyatta, the nation’s founding father. Today’s announcement was the most dramatic of several stratagems intended to project the sense of confidence and stability of Mr. Moi’s Government.
Prominent among the detainees who were released was Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a professed radical novelist and chairman of the literature department at the University of Nairobi, who was seized last Dec. 31 after he organized a theatrical troupe that visited rural areas and performed a play that dealt with exploitation of peasants by civil servants and politicians.
In his speech the President said: “As you know, considerations of national security have in the past compelled the Government to take strong measures against a few individuals whose activities endangered our unity and stability. In order to show all Kenyans that I have firm faith and confidence in their determination to respect and promote our unity and stability, I have today released all detainees. All of those who have been in detention are now at this very moment at their homes.”
The issue of political detention has long been a matter of sensitive debate. Kenya has never had nearly as many detainees as most black African countries. Today’s action, however, places this nation in the exclusive group of black African countries without political prisoners. This group is said to include Botswana, Liberia and the Ivory Coast.
Mr. Moi noted, nonetheless, that the legislation sanctioning detention remained in force and he warned that “the Government will not hesitate in taking immediate and firm action against anyone whose activities threaten our peace, unity and stability.”
In addition to Mr. Thiongo, those freed by the President’s order included three once‐prominent members of Parliament. Wasonga Sijeyo was confined the longest, having been detained in 1969. He had been a member of a Soviet‐backed political group that sought to challenge Mr. Kenyatta by building a power base among people of the Luo tribe.
