Editing Mau Mau rebellion (section)

===Political and social concessions by the British===
Kenyans were granted nearly<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gadsden|first=Fay|date=October 1980|title=The African Press in Kenya, 1945–1952|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0021853700018727/type/journal_article|journal=The Journal of African History|language=en|volume=21|issue=4|pages=515–535|doi=10.1017/S0021853700018727|s2cid=154367771|issn=0021-8537|access-date=28 May 2020|archive-date=9 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240409023624/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/african-press-in-kenya-19451952/B05D64CF5762CA345A1148260FE0A833|url-status=live}}</ref> all of the demands made by the KAU in 1951.

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Kenyan Emergency surrender pass January 1955.jpg|thumb|'Surrender pass' airdropped to Mau Mau activists as a result of Evelyn Baring's offer of an amnesty on 18 January 1955.]] -->On 18 January 1955, the Governor-General of Kenya, [[Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale|Evelyn Baring]], offered an amnesty to Mau Mau activists. The offer was that they would not face prosecution for previous offences, but might still be detained. European settlers were appalled at the leniency of the offer. On 10 June 1955 with no response forthcoming, the offer of amnesty to the Mau Mau was revoked.

In June 1956, a programme of land reform increased the land holdings of the Kikuyu.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Pinckney|first1=Thomas C.|last2=Kimuyu|first2=Peter K.|date=1 April 1994|title=Land Tenure Reform in East Africa: Good, Bad or Unimportant?1|journal=Journal of African Economies|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=1–28|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.jae.a036794|issn=0963-8024}}</ref> This was coupled with a relaxation of the ban on native Kenyans growing coffee, a primary cash crop.<ref name=":0" />

In the cities the colonial authorities decided to dispel tensions by raising urban wages, thereby strengthening the hand of moderate union organisations like the KFRTU. By 1956, the British had granted direct election of native Kenyan members of the Legislative Assembly, followed shortly thereafter by an increase in the number of local seats to fourteen. A Parliamentary conference in January 1960 indicated that the British would accept "one person—one vote" majority rule.