When a country becomes independent, it becomes natural for the colonials to fade. In Kenya, British settlers were bought out of their property by Britain and the vast bulk took the offer. This was a generous gift to the new government. What of though the several hundred thousand Indians, who also came in colonial times and were the bulk of the merchant and professional classes. They faced a question. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your fist sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
At the time of this stamp issue Kenya was still involved in a postal union with Uganda and Tanzania as they had been in colonial times. They still occasionally came out with a single country issue and this one showed off sea shells. This abalone shell is common from East African beaches through Sri Lanka and Australia even to Tonga.
Todays stamp is issue A4, a 30 cent stamp issued by Kenya on December 13th, 1971. It was a 15 stamp issue in various sizes and denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. In todays exchange rates, 30 Kenyan cents is worth about one fourth of an American penny.
Kenya was granted independence in 1963 and became a de facto one party state under President Kenyatta, though his African tribe was only a third of Kenyan blacks. Prospects were somewhat better than in other countries. There had been an effort to train black Kenyans by providing them free educations in America. This was called the Kennedy Airlift and had been opposed by Britain as those given the opportunity were not those Britain would have chosen. Among those taking advantage were Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Wangari Mathai and former American President Barack Obama’s father.
Britain had chosen Kenyatta who unlike Uganda, invited Indians to stay. He also had doubts about the loyalty of the Kennedy Airlift people and understood the economy would be better with their expertise. Kenyatta was perhaps not ready when most of the local Indians turned down Kenyan passports and formed a political group to protect their interests.
The leader of that group was Pio Gama Pinto, whose family was from Goa in Portuguese India. He had been educated in India and even served in it’s Air Force but became involved in agitation against Portuguese rule in Goa. He feared arrest in independent India and returned to Kenya to start a newspaper that agitated for independence. After being involved in the Kenya Emergency uprising in the 1950s, he was jailed for four years. Though he was made an official of Kenyatta’s government he continued his agitation. He then found that agitation was more harshly dealt with by Kenya than India, Portugal, or Britain. He was assassinated by gunmen while waiting for his gait to rise in his driveway sitting in his car with his family.
This was taken as another sign that Indians did not have much of a future in Kenya. Each year in this period 10 percent of Indians moved away. Interestingly most chose to move to Britain instead of independent India. Indeed Pinto, who had been so involved in the agitation against the Portuguese in Goa, made no effort to move back after Goa was taken by force into India in 1961. Interestingly Pinto’s widow and children moved to Canada after his death, After the Kenyatta Political Party was finally replaced in 2002, power shifted to the now old Kennedy Airlift People. Part of this was the rehabilitation of no longer a threat Pio Gama Pinto. In 2008, his memory was honored with a postage stamp that labeled him a hero of Kenya. In 2017, Indians were recognized as the 44th official tribe of Kenya. Most still maintain their foreign passports.
Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting and have a happy 2024. First published in 2021.