Word: jomo
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Teetering between the rival factions in Kenya's one-party government, President Jomo Kenyatta for months let pro-Communist Vice President Oginga Odinga have his way more often than seemed wise. For one thing, Moscow had financed the Lumumba Institute seven miles outside Nairobi, providing two Russian instructors in the Leninist art of political action. Then Odinga negotiated a deal for a shipload of Soviet arms for Kenya, which the Russians seemed only too eager to provide absolutely free of charge. Odinga meanwhile hustled around making anti-Western speeches, and verbally sniping at the more moderate members of Kenyatta...
Last week Jomo decided that enough was enough. In a brisk series of actions, Kenyatta made it clear to Odinga and the Communists that his regime had a different direction in mind. Among them...
...Outright rejection of the Soviet arms. Just before the freighter Fizik Lebedev was due to arrive last week, a vanguard of 17 Russian "technicians" flew in from Moscow. One was reportedly a general, and all seemed to have in mind a lengthy stay. Not so. Jomo called in the Soviet ambassador, told him to send back his tanks, guns and technicians. Later he explained to a press conference: "All the arms are old, secondhand, and would be of no use to the modern army of Kenya...
...this year's election-and against a 71-year-old woman at that. Similarly, Thailand, now under semiautocratic rule, is preparing a constitution. The Shah of Iran has mobilized the intellectual resources of his nation for economic, social and ultimately democratic reforms. Even that old tribal chief Jomo Kenyatta has so far proved an adroit democrat; though he maneuvered the opposition out of business, all elements of Kenya are represented in his one-party government...
Whether smuggling was involved or not, the recent exchange brought to the surface the conflict that has long been raging within the government of President Jomo Kenyatta. Vice President Oginga Odinga, wealthy, 53-year-old leader of the Luo tribe, which forms an important part of Kenyatta's KANU party coalition, has been openly attempting to turn the new nation toward Communism. He is opposed by a faction of moderates, including Roland Ngala, leader of the now extinct KADU opposition party, and Kenyatta's Economic Planning Minister Tom Mboya, which has been looking for a way to clip...