Asians in Rhodesia and Kenya: a comparative political history

Abstract

Asians in Rhodesia form a small minority group which has been neglected consistently by all commentators. This neglect, at first sight, is justifiable. Rhodesian Asians have never possessed the economic or political power of the Asians in Kenya. An examination of the characteristics of Kenyan Asian association with Africans provides a scale of reference which can then be applied to Rhodesia. When Rhodesian Asian association with Africans is examined in terms of this scale, it becomes clear that they have an importance out of all proportion to their numbers and have played a role relatively more important in modern Rhodesian politics than Asians have played in modern Kenyan politics. Four phases of association emerged in Kenya. The first one involved individuals only. It commenced in 1921, when M. A. Desai gave publicity to Kikuyu demands in the East African Chronicle and provided assistance to Harry Thuku.1 It continued throughout the 1930s, when Isher Dass voiced Kikuyu views on the Carter Commission in 1934, assisted the Kamba over de-stocking in 1938 and expressed Kikuyu and Kavirondo opposition to the Order in Council defining the White Highlands in 1939,2 the year in which Makhan Singh became involved in the Mombasa strike.3