KENYA: The Roots of the Fig Tree

The eyes of all Africa were on Nyasaland last week, but Kenya had its own special reason for feeling the tension. Back in the news was the dreaded name of Jomo Kenyatta, "Burning Spear," the idol of the Mau Mau—and the man who put him there was the very same witness who helped put him in prison back in 1953.

Star Witness Rawson Mbogwa Macharia, a frail little Kikuyu shopkeeper, testified six years ago that Kenyatta himself had given him the Mau Mau oath, that he had been stripped naked and made to walk...