BEFORE the murder of Tom Mboya in July 1969, Kenya politicians could mute and obscure their country’s tribal tensions. The tensions, of course, were always there, straining the fragile unity of the new country, but they did not pervade every side of political life. Personal rivalry counted; so did ideology. The assassination changed all that. For more than a year, Kenya was torn by a dangerous and blatant tribal conflict that colored all political activity. In a sense, this only followed what had happened elsewhere in Africa, where crisis invariably heightens tribal hatreds and suspicions. The results, as Nigeria showed, can be terrifying. But Kenya is not another Nigeria. In recent months, the fury has diminished, giving Kenya a time of calm to deal with its tribal problem. Its future depends on whether its politicians learn to do so. At stake is a land of 10.5 million people led by pragmatic men who have nursed the old white settler economy so well that Kenya has one of the highest economic growth rates in black Africa. No other black African country has anything to compare with its fertile soil and energetic farmers. Its wildlife and incredible and varied beauty have made it the tourist center of black Africa. But all this is threatened by the instability inherent in tribalism. Before analyzing the tribal problem, it makes sense to recount the excited political events of the country since the death of Mboya.

The words came cold and clipped from the government secretary with gray hair and pale English skin. "When that man enters a room," she said, "I can feel the hackles rise up and down my back. Even if I don't see him, I can feel that man." That man is Jomo Kenyatta. A court has convicted him of managing the savage Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. A British governor has condemned him as "the African leader to darkness and death." Yet, within a year or two, when the colony of Kenya assumes independence, Jomo Kenyatta likely will be the new nation's first prime minister. The gray-haired Englishwoman and other white settlers watch this onrush to power helplessly, with distaste and bitterness. To them, a man streaked in evil and blood is reaching for their rolling, green land. But whites number no more than one per cent of Kenya's six million people. Africans see a different Kenyatta...