Renison decided to release Kenyatta before Kenya achieved independence. He thought public exposure to Kenyatta prior to elections would make the populace less likely to vote for a man Renison regarded as a violent extremist. In April 1961, the government flew Kenyatta to Maralal, where he maintained his innocence of the charges but told reporters that he bore no grudges. He reiterated that he had never supported violence or the illegal oathing system used by the Mau Mau, and denied having ever been a Marxist, stating: "I shall always remain an African Nationalist to the end". In August, he was moved to Gatundu in Kikuyuland, where he was greeted by a crowd of 10,000. There, the colonial government had built him a new house to replace that they had demolished. Now a free man, he travelled to cities like Nairobi and Mombasa to make public appearances.