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by the FCO and the ODM as well as by informed opinion in Britain generally, is not acting as a deterrent to other countries.
10.
In June of this year an ODM mission visited Kenya to negotiate a new supplementation (OSAS) agreement to cover the period 1971-76. The Kenyan authorities stated firmly that they would not negotiate a new agreement until the pensions issue had been reconsidered and settled in their favour. They made the point about an enforced package deal at the time of independence and said that they had accepted only with reluctance subsequent arguments that the pensions issue could not be re-opened during the currency of the present supplementation agreement. Now they were asking Britain to assume full responsibility for their expatriate pensioners in respect of pre-independence service and to reimburse Kenya for similar pension payments made in recent years. It is not thought that Kenya will hold out for retrospective payment but it is known that the cabinet has taken a decision in principle to default on the future responsibility. In September, in anticipation of talks on the future pattern of aid, the Kenya Government submitted officially through the British High Commission in Nairobi a memorandum which contained the following
paragraphs:-
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The Kenya Government are also deeply concerned with regard to the question of pensions and compensation in respect of those officers who were designated by the British Government as members of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service, or those officers who were covered and protected by the Public Officers Agreement, including those officers who were non-designated. It is the Kenya Government's view, as conveyed to the British team, that the full cost of pensions and compensation as paid to expatriate officers falling into the above mentioned categories should be met by the British Government, as we consider there is no justification for Kenya, as a developing country, to be burdened as it has up till now, and under the existing arrangements is likely to be burdened conclusively in the future, with the cost for officers who
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