‘Not So Much a Melting Pot’: White Expulsions and the Diplomatic Safety Valve in Kenya, 1964–1967

Abstract This article examines the political impact of two rounds of arbitrary expulsions of white and Asian British citizens by the Kenyan government—first in 1964, and then in 1967. It analyses the consolidation of the relationship between the British and Kenyan states after the latter’s independence in 1963, and the evolving position of the white settler community within that equation. The article examines elements of coercion on the part of the Kenyan government, and embarrassment on the part of the British government. The expulsions illustrated the dual objectives driving the British state’s decolonisation process in Kenya—fulfilling its ‘moral obligation’ towards settlers via financial compensation and repatriation at state expense, and safeguarding British political, defence and economic interests in Kenya. The manner of execution of the expulsions was symptomatic of the chaos that characterised the decolonisation process, with the reconfiguration of the existing political order as well as the hierarchy of authority and power within a coalition of individuals with varying ethnic and ideological allegiances. Finally, the article contrasts the privileged treatment accorded to problematic white deportees by the British government with the callous and discriminatory treatment of British Asian expellees. Decolonised countries, having achieved independence through nationalist civilian action, thus learned to appropriate the colonial weapon of sedition against ‘undesirables’ or dissidents and, in this case, to justify arbitrary action against powerful minorities in the name of national security. The deportations in 1964 and 1967 created a precedent that left a lingering sense of fear and uncertainty within the white settler community in Kenya.