CHAPTER XXII 
LOCAL POLITICS 
Every Colony in the making, and until such time as 
it is in a position to manage its internal affairs, passes 
through periods of political unrest; and such periods 
do not tend to get less frequent and intense as the 
country more nearly approaches the time when it may 
fitly be trusted with such management. To this rule 
British East Africa is no exception. When the first 
driblets of pioneer colonists appeared and took root, I 
think that it may be fairly admitted, without any 
disparagement to a fine body of men, that the officials 
as a class resented their presence. This fact rendered 
the formation of a political situation easy. It was 
simply a case of a struggle for existence by the 
colonists and of antagonism to the official element. 
Elsewhere I have shown how this animosity arose, 
flourished, and finally died away, its end being almost 
synchronous with the advent of the present Governor, 
Sir Percy Girouard. 1 Since the ending of this first 
phase politics have taken a much more complex turn 
and, on the whole, an altogether more satisfactory one. 
Although on various different points there has and 
always will be very strong feeling shown, for which, I 
1 Sir Percy Girouard resigned his office, to the great regret of the majority of 
Colonists, July 16th, 1912. 
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