Brief Summary
Fitz de Souza's memoirs recount a political story woven through a personal account of migration and integration, with both the hardship and hope that this entailed. His account takes us from Asia to Africa and then to Europe before returning to East Africa where he lived for most of his life. It gives a flavour of lifestyles, moral codes, and politics as they were in early 20th century India, 1930s Zanzibar, and Europe after the war. Most importantly, it takes us to that formative time when the foundations were laid for an independent Kenya, giving the reader a window into those last decades of colonial Africa and those early years of the new nation.
The transition was not a peaceful one. It was not a time when the "rule of law" was applied in an undiluted sense. The book gives the inside story of the colonial government's handling of the independence movement including the trial of the Kapenguria six, Jomo Kenyatta and fellow nationalists, and Operation Anvil, the round-up of the Mau Mau.
It explains how agreement was eventually reached and compromises found, in particular through the Lancaster House conferences, that enabled a new country to be founded. It portrays the politicians of the time, before independence and after, some hugely idealistic, some charismatic, and others forever enigmatic, many of whose lives in those formative years ended in tragedy. Hilary Ng'weno, a highly regarded Kenyan journalist and editor, provided invaluable support: "I interviewed him many times, so that the interviews, which were recorded, could help him in writing his memoirs.
That exercise was an eye opener for me. I had never met an elderly person who could remember so many details about his past. He was remembering personalities and events of the years before and soon after Kenya’s independence in 1963 and Fitz wasn’t just remembering events touching on his life. He was remembering Kenya’s history of which he was one of the great makers. The story you read in this book is not just about Fitz. It is a story about the foundations of the Kenya nation. And it is for that reason that I feel very strongly that Fitz Remedios Santana de Souza will forever remain a legend for many Kenyans." David Steel, The Rt Hon. the Lord Steel of Aikwood, a close personal friend, commented: ”This is a remarkable book, beautifully written and describing in graphic detail the author’s experience of the transition of Kenya from violence-torn colony to independence. Fitz de Souza speaks with authority as one active at the centre from lawyer to Jomo Kenyatta to Deputy Speaker in the Nairobi Parliament.
His sketches of the participants are quite breath-taking and moving. His is a life lived to the full – I could not put it down and read it all in just two sittings.” In her introduction, Victoria Brittain, former foreign correspondent for The Guardian in East Africa, writes: "Fitz de Souza is a man of memories from his unique insider/outsider status in Kenya’s struggle for independence from Britain and the early days of its uncharted path under Jomo Kenyatta. A vanished world of optimism and idealism rooted in Goa, Zanzibar, Kenya’s Rift Valley, London’s Inns of Court, and the dying days of British colonial rule in Kenya is unveiled in his subtle understated book.
De Souza was Deputy Speaker of the first Parliament of independent Kenya, a trusted friend to Kenyatta and of all the aspiring politicians of the moment, many of whom he knew well from the prisons and courtrooms of violent pre-independence days. He was a man who in those heady days of independent Kenya could have had any ministry he wanted, and was offered any stretches of farmland he wanted by Kenyatta. Unlike so many others he wanted none. The life he chose was a very different one of idealism, matter-of-fact self-sacrifice and extraordinary hard work.”
petermwaburi77 (verified owner) –
Eye opener into the intrigues and happening on how the World body runs.
nuria (verified owner) –
Deeply researched and convincingly told, Warah’s book is a damning indictment of the UN that shatters any notions that the organization is the moral conscience of the world, instead revealing an internal culture of fraud, corruption, mismanagement, racism and sexism, driven by an instinct of craven institutional self-preservation.
By Christine Mungai
Chief, the NuriaStore bookseller –
The book debunks the myth that the United Nations is a club of equals committed to preventing wars and protecting the rights of the world’s most vulnerable people. On the contrary, the five permanent veto-holding members of the UN Security Council, namely the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, have extraordinary power and influence in the UN, and often overrule the will and votes of the majority of the UN member states.
The book is divided into four parts:
Part One shows how the UN is simply a mirror of the misogyny and racism we find in the rest of society. Not even the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements had an impact on how the UN deals with sexual harassment and racial discrimination, both of which are tolerated at the UN. Internal UN surveys have shown that up to a third of UN employees have experienced sexual harassment, and more than half of people of colour have experienced racism, yet few of the victims report their cases for fear of retaliation. Despite policies to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination, the UN has failed to curb these vices. On the contrary, whistleblowers are retaliated against; most lose their jobs or are demoted.
People benefitting from UN programmes and projects are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. Despite a “zero tolerance” tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and abuse, investigations have shown that UN peacekeepers and UN employees delivering aid have been known to sexually abuse or exploit women and children in countries where they are stationed. Recent cases in Haiti and the Central African Republic illustrate how peacekeepers get away with sexually abusing children without fear of being prosecuted or court martialled. UN personnel implicated in such cases get away with these crimes because they enjoy immunity from prosecution bestowed on them by the UN Charter.
Part Two shows how development projects perpetuate racist and patriarchal models that end up hurting rather than helping beneficiaries. It seeks to “decolonise development” by questioning development models that essentially disempower people who are supposed to be “empowered” because development is viewed through the prism of poverty reduction rather than social justice. It also presents evidence showing that much of the aid that is raised for disaster relief often ends up being stolen or diverted by both UN personnel and so-called “implementing partners” on the ground.
Furthermore, fundraising for disaster relief is often based on erroneous or misleading statistics. Part Three shows how UN agencies that deliver aid often exaggerate the scale of a problem in order to remain relevant or to attract donor funding. Much of this funding and aid ends up in the wrong hands, as in the case of Somalia during the 2011 famine. Besides, in the case of famine relief, the problem never gets resolved because food aid can never be a substitute for good governance that delivers food security.
Part Four shows how UN bodies, including the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council, operate on the whims of their most powerful and influential members, including the permanent veto-holding members of the Security Council who failed to stop the war in Iraq and the genocide in Rwanda and have not even censured Saudi Arabia for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Even though the war in Iraq was declared “illegal”, Britain and the US were not sanctioned for waging it. In Rwanda, as génocidaires roamed freely in Kigali, UN staff were seen packing their suitcases and boarding chartered flights to safer countries. The UN only intervenes when these wars create humanitarian crises, which leads it to raise funds for the relief effort.