Intelligence

A colonial paradise lost to violence in not-so-happy valley

World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online

By Devika Bhat
Ill-feeling between foreign investors and the local population contributes to the atmosphere of fear
THE murder of Joan Root is the latest in a spate of killings directed at white settlers, which have shocked Kenya.

The country’s colonial history is well documented, most notoriously in James Fox’s novel about the White Mischief set of Happy Valley, who are depicted as revelling in their decadent and self-gratifying lifestyle with little apparent regard for the local people.

As recounted in the book, Lord Errol, who lived in Kenya during the Second World War, was shot dead in 1941 by a mystery assailant.

The jealous husband of a woman with whom he was alleged to have had an affair with was accused of his murder, but was later cleared. One theory speculates that Lord Erroll was involved in covert operations during the war and was regarded by the Government as a loose cannon who had to be silenced.

A later scandal focused on the 1988 killing of the British photographer Julie Ward, who, like Ms Root, was passionate about the wildlife she had come to capture on film.

Six days after Ms Ward was reported missing, the remains of her leg and jaw were found in the Masai Mara game reserve. Kenyan police initially refused to conduct a murder inquiry, saying that she had been killed by wild animals despite evidence that the body had been dismembered with a sharp object.

Determined to pursue the truth, Ms Ward’s father, John, began his own investigation. In 2004 this lead to Ipswich coroners court ruling that his daughter was unlawfully killed.

The Lake Naivasha region, which is part of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa, is known for its sprawling flower farms and opulent Tudor-style mansions. Once famed for its seemingly idyllic setting, it is not difficult to see why the first white settlers considered the spot a sort of heaven on earth.

But in recent times Naivasha has been disturbed by ill feeling between foreign investors and the local population, mainly over access to pasture and to the lake’s shore.

At least three other Europeans have been killed during violent robberies in the Rift Valley since September 2004, prompting great unease and convern over security.

In July 2005 a prominent British hotelier in his 60s was shot dead near Naivasha by armed robbers as he went to the rescue of a guard who raised the alarm. John Goldson, who owned the Crater Lake Lodge, was murdered along with two others only months after a Dutch horticulturalist was killed as he arrived home with workers’ salaries. In September 2004 John Alma, a British farmer, was murdered at his house.

The heightened tension and concern over security has also claimed other casualties. Thomas Cholmondeley, a prominent British aristocrat and the son of the 5th Baron Delamere, shot and killed an undercover game warden on his Rift Valley ranch but evaded a murder trial, saying that he had acted in self-defence.

Locals say that the problem of rampant crime against whites and blacks shows no sign of disappearing, with a poorly equipped police force appearing powerless to stop it.

Last year, a farmer’s organisation pleaded with the Government to improve roads and to curb crime, complaining that the security risks were scaring away investors.

To add to the region’s woes, the fish harvests, once plentiful and prosperous, declined last year to no more than a feeble trickle.

As one local resident said: “This is not a happy valley — it is a valley of fear . . . We live in fear for our lives.”

January 14, 2006 at 10:55 AM in Europe | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home