Jomo Kenyatta of Kenyatta's liberal patrons. In January, Kenyatta met with Drummond Shiels, the undersecretary-of-state, at the House of Commons. Kenyatta told Shiels that he was not affiliated with communist circles and was unaware as to the nature of the newspaper which published his articles. Shiels advised Kenyatta to return home to promote Kikuyu involvement in the constitutional process and discourage violence and extremism. After eighteen months in Europe, Kenyatta had run out of money. The Anti-Slavery Society advanced him funds to pay off his debts and return to Kenya. Although Kenyatta enjoyed life in London and feared arrest if he returned
Jomo Kenyatta insisted that it was necessary; in a March 1961 speech, he described Kenyatta an "African leader to darkness and death" and stated that if he were released, violence would erupt. This indefinite detention was widely interpreted internationally as a reflection of the cruelties of British imperialism. Calls for his release came from the Chinese government, India's Nehru, and Tanganyika's Prime Minister Julius Nyerere. Ghana's President Nkrumah personally raised the issue with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and other UK officials, with the Ghanaian government offering Kenyatta asylum in the event of his release. Resolutions calling for his release were produced