In the second installment of a series, Peter Swan recalls his service at an exciting time in Kenya's history.

Kionyo Police Station - Meru Division

The map reference to Kionyo was just below the equator.  To get there, I drove the ten men in a Long wheel base Landrover via the Nkubu DO compound at Nkubu, where I met Chief Charles, and then on to Kionyo where I met Headman Stanley at the Kiborio camp. We were then taken to the Police Station site. The two officials gave me the impression that we were welcome. Only later did I learn that they were Government appointees and not part of the accepted tribal structure.

Our first nights were spent sleeping rough in a circle round the Landrover.  Every morning, between ten and thirty local personnel would report incursions by Brigadier Martin and his gang during which he removed cattle, goats, sheep, food and sometimes people from their shambas.  Despicably, the gang would sometimes hamstring cattle, slit their stomachs, and leave them living with their guts on the floor.  Despite our vulnerable position, I was expected to organise daily patrols and personally lead five day- and two night-patrols a week. At that time I was the only driver, the only radio operator and the only one with clerical experience.

Manpower

My manpower were quality personnel with strengths and weakneses.  We were a mixture of Regular Police and Kenya Police Reserve. Three of the Regulars were Acholi from Uganda; when recruited, they had been led to believe that they would be working in townships.  On patrol they were heavy-footed, and where the rest of the men had various degrees of tracking skills, they considered such skills primitive.  On the plus side, they had some spoken English, though their Swahili was as bad as mine.  They settled into guard duties about the station, a job generally unpopular with the others.  Three other regulars were Wakamba with valuable bushcraft skills.  In theory, the area we covered was from the peak of Mount Kenya down to the desert-scrub-like regions of Tharaka where we would later spend four or five day-patrols occasionally crossing the Tana into Kamba territory.  A most valuable asset to the station was an elderly KPR man born of a Nandi mother and a Masai father.  An incredible tracker, only time or boundary limitations could prevent him following tracks to their perpetrator.  The man held the repect of all who knew him.  An even older man was an unusually tall Meru with a pastoral background and an aversion to the eating of animals from the forest.  He was another respected by all but without the awe in which our tracker was held.  We also had an effervescent young Nandi whose "Jumagay" greeting brought a smile and brightened the life of all who heard it.

Station Routines

Apart from the bookwork, daily training routines were laid down by Nairobi.  From my own experience (I had also been an Army Phyical Training Intructor) I knew it was also necessary to keep the men occupied and interested.  A football was obtained but we moved on to other sports.  Soon after measuring out a primitive 440-yard track by circling the station with the Landrover, we had running races for which the winner would get a few beers - I managed to win a few race until the competitive aspect sunk in and I was left standing.  We also contructed an army style assault course with a target at the end. And I also took a form of sick parade, but was happy to use the facilities of the local Consolata mission at Imenti. 

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