A work in progress: need your comments
THIS IS ALL ABOUT HOW GOANS HELPED BUILD KENYA, UGANDA, TANZANIA
so far I have focused on Kenya, a lot of the jobs will be similar in all three countries and Zanzibar. This story when finished illustrates how directly or indirectly Goans (as well as other communities) helped build Kenya until 1963 and after (Independence). No names have been used but would be happy to publish them if you send them to me.
A Kenya friend asked me the other day: what contribution did the Goans make in the building of the nation of Kenya: Simple answer probably every aspect of life (except politics).
1. They helped develop a professional civil service that survived
the prangs of the early days of independence. There were lawyers, Queen’s
Counsels, and clerical support in the High Court and the magistrates’ courts.
There Goan court clerks all around the East African judicial system. With
others, they kept the postal and telegraphic system working. The Civil Service
at all levels: district, provincial, in every inch of the country, it was the
Goans who kept the wheels of colonial government in ship shape, even guarded
it, improvised, improved and made the white man look good. Without the Goans
and other South Asians there would have been no colonial government as such.
2. Stenographers (secretaries) provided unbelievable support in
helping new civil servants, ministers and assistant ministers and permanent
secretaries, under-secretaries take baby steps in their first days and weeks
and months in Government. Later, employment agences. Corporate CEOs, Company chair persons, Corporate Company Secretaries, Corporate investors, Corporate innovators, Bursars, corporate treasurers/Chief accountants and plenty more.
3.
There were several prominent Goans employed by the Kenya
Parliament.
4.
There were priests and nuns who played a wholesome role in meeting the religious needs
of the people long before the advent of independence. At the same time, they
partnered their local communities in building places of worship (churches) and
schools for education throughout the country.
5.
Accountants helped professional businesses and services stay on
top of their game in relation to their bottom line and a clear view of their
profit margins or failures.
6.
Goan teachers continued to educate the future leaders, civil
servants, engineers, accountants, etc until they were no longer wanted. Goan
engineers, architects, planners, town planners, doctors, dentists, surgeons,
nurses, radiographers. Ear Nose and Throat specialists, anaethethists, doctors, nurses,
agricultural and scientists helped prepare the road after independence. There were several aircraft instrument technicians, aircraft maintenance specialists, and other Goans worked in different branches of the East African large and small aircraft aerodromes.
7.
Journalists, advertising specialists, graphic artists, secretarial
colleges, tailors, carpenters, motor mechanics, insurance agents, financial
advisers, sports club officials in Central Province, Western Province, the
Coast, etc.
8.
Social and sports clubs showed way ahead in organisational and administrative
skills for social and sports skills to continue development. Sportsmen and
women made a huge contribution in the future athletics and other sports after
independence. Bone setters, physiotherapists, midwives, child and adult
psychologists and psychiatrists made their contribution as well as medical
scientists who continued the batter against Malaria, Polio, Tsetse Fly, Dysentery,
Cholera.
9.
Huge numbers of Goans
kept the Railways running, as well administration and accounting and catering
services. A few Goans even attended the Railway Training School in Nairobi.
Many more Goans kept the sea-lanes open, the customs and excise, the passenger
liners, and every other aspect of the sea.
Other Goans played key roles in Post Office administration as
well providing skills in the fruit canning and export industry. Some Goans even
ventured into the construction industry. More Goans were in all aspect of the
travel industry. A large number played a key role in keeping East African
Airways in the air, every aspect of maintenance, engineering, cockpit
engineering et al. There were also many Goan pharmacists and chemists. Lots of
Goan Bars and restaurants catered for all. There were chefs/cooks, musicians of
all sorts, including a vibrant classical musician community.
Large numbers of optometrists and eye surgeons cared for people
around the country.
My Mzee was a Watchmaker/Repairer+Dealer in Roemer watches. Malachy De Souza M.D.
Comment by a friend: Your list is comprehensive - and
necessarily so, as Goans were involved in all walks of life. I would add cooks
and chemists to the list. I think Dr. Rozendro Ribeiro deserves special mention
as his use of quinine injections for malaria probably saved thousands of lives
including that of my father. I was reading the other day that a Goan chef
cooked for royalty on the railway and functions at Government House and Goan
tailors were acknowledged to be the best. What about Goan politicians like
Pio Gama Pinto, J.M. Nazareth, and Fitz de Souza? And journalists like a
certain Cyprian Fernandes, Alfred Araujo, Norman da Costa and J. Rodrigues,
newsreader Ivan Araujo … before all of them Saude George?
Yes, Goans came to Kenya for employment opportunities that were
not available in their homeland but, in the process, they provided valuable
services at a level of ability, competence and integrity that set the standard
for those who followed.
Another Goan from Goan sent me these questions:
Would
it be accurate to say that outside of India, (with the exception of Portugal)
Goans exerted a tremendous influence on Kenyan life, and in what
way? In every way possible, the above provides some idea to the extent that
Goans were involved in the building of Kenya, not indirectly but indirectly.
Many knew the day would come when they would have leave their paradise. Others
would not hear of it.
What was the political contribution to Kenyan life and would it have got more enhanced had Gama Pinto lived? Why did Goan political contributions peter out as the years of independence went by? Goans were never political as such. People like Dr ACL de Sousa and other like him played some part in the politics of the day (1930-1950s). Later JM Nazareth tried to show the Goans the way into politics but he was dismayed by the continual infighting. He spent of his time with the Indian Congress which was a more politically active. I always thought that he brought a better quality of politics to any discussion/argument. The subjective title of the greatest Goan politician my go to Dr Fitzval de Souza, brilliant lawyer, Deputy Speaker of the Kenya Parliament, Member of the Kenya Parliament. He was clever enough to realise that rich Indian businessmen were good for business and good people. He was also clever enough to know exactly when to get out of the political even though he was one President Jomo Kenyatta’s closest advisers. Joe Murumbi, the Goan-Masai, Goa-educated half-caste was an outstanding man but he made the dominant Kikuyu politicians nervous because he was quite close and respected by Mzee Kenyatta. In the end, he resigned from the vice-presidency and returned to his vast art and book collection. He died a sad man. Once the Mau Mau, had surrendered, there really was no room for Pio Gama Pinto. However, in the fight for independence, assisting the Mau Mau, developing political strategies for the political fight for indepence, Pio Gama Pinto more than any other Goan made the biggest contribution in winning independence.
He was
too honest a politician for the powerful Kikuyu and the fact that his socialist
ideals were being exploited by the capitalist Luo leader Oginga Odinga did not
help his cause. His close friend Dr Fitzval De Souza had tried to convince him
to get out of Kenya politics (in fact, Pio Gama Pinto was planning to do just
by moving to the Tanzanian border to closer to helping the fight for the independence
of the Africans in Mozambique, Angola, Southwest Africa (later Namibia). After
a swearing match with Jomo Kenyatta in the grounds of Parliament House, he had
written his own death warrant. As a freedom fighter, Pio Gama Pinto stands with the best. Pinto was the cleanest politician you could find anywhere. As a political and armed struggle strategist, there were few who were his equal. In the final analysis, JM Nazareth and Dr Fitz
de Souza made some genuine contributions in Kenya’s political arena.
However, no one really pushed the cause of the Goan.
Like most Indians, the Goans kept to themselves. Were inter-marriages rare between
Goans and Africans? One or two maybe!
What
was the Goan contribution to the Lancaster House Conferences? Nil. Jomo
Kenyatta invited Dr Fitzval de Souza to be present at two or three conferences
on the path to independence. But it was as a Kenyan and not as a Goan that Fitz
de Souza found a seat at the Lancaster House conferences.
Many
Goans chose to migrate to the west when the Brits left perhaps making the
Africans wonder if they were not really keen on contributing to Kenya? Is this
accurate and thus in a sense self-serving?
We
do not hear much about the Hindu Goan contribution to Kenya. Were they too few
to make a difference? Did not know they existed growing up but then again, the
only Hindu Goans I met were in Goa. There must have been some in East Africa
but I never met a single one.
The
Indian community was recognized as the 43rd tribe of Kenya. Was
the decision in your view motivated by political gains (Uhuru) or did the
Kenyan leadership genuinely acknowledge the contributions of Goans and Indians?
I think it was a political joke.
Finally,
what was Kenya in the Goan imagination of those days? Before independence, it was akin
to paradise. We lived as if we were in Goa only a much better quality of life,
employment, social quality, a much larger array of sports, East African and
international sports. It was a life that dreams are made of. These days I share
long talks of friends grew up within East Africa. The reason we celebrate this
nostalgia, it was for most quite a brilliant life, even the less fortunate
still speak lovingly for their time in East Africa.
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