Mau Mau claim for 'torture' compensation
Updated on 23 June 2009
Five Kenyans seek to claim compensation against the British government over allegations that they were tortured and unlawfully imprisoned by the British colonial government in the 1950s and 1960s.
The three men and two women are in their seventies and eighties and have travelled to London from rural Kenya in order to issue the claims in person.
Their barrister, Daniel Leader from Leigh Day & Company, told Channel 4 News: "It has been moving to see elderly Kenyans who have been through appalling torture finally able to come to London and tell their story.
"We hope the British government will treat these claims with the utmost seriousness and that we can find a way forward to resolve the issues that have been raised."
The claims were formally issued at the Royal Courts of Justice, and the claimants say their priority is to get an official apology.
If they are successful, it could have significant implications for thousands of other Kenyans seeking colonial-era compensation from Britain.
The Foreign Office said: "We understand the strong feelings that the Mau Mau issue still creates in Kenya and elsewhere. It remains a deeply divisive issue within Kenya and one which historians continue to debate. The Emergency period caused a great deal of pain for many on all sides, and marred progress towards independence. It was regrettable this was not achieved without violence.
"It is of course right that those who feel they have a case are free to take it to the courts. But as we have previously indicated to the solicitors, we expect to contest the cases on questions around liability and limitations.
"Because of the prospect of legal action, and without seeing the detail of this, it would not be right to comment further on the particular aspects of this case."
Mau Mau revolt - a brief history
1939
The British-led Colonial Office bans the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), a Kenyan political grouping demanding the return of “lost lands” in the vicinity of Nairobi that the Kikuyu tribe (the largest in the country) had been forced to surrender to European colonials.
1944
The Kenya African Union (KAU), with a largely Kikuyu membership, is formed to campaign for African rights.
1945-8
Rift Valley squatter communities come under increasing threat as the British government sets aside a quarter of a million acres for use by British ex-servicemen.
By the mid-1940s the population of Kikuyu squatters in the Rift Valley province, working mainly as tenant farmers for white landowners, has risen to some 250,000 – one quarter of the Kikuyu people.
1946
Jomo Kenyatta (born circa 1896), a charismatic Moscow-trained political activist, returns to Kenya after spending the war years in the United Kingdom. He rapidly assumes command of the KAU
1948
Referring to local unrest, the District Commissioner of Nakuru, in the Rift Valley, first mentions the term Mau Mau in his annual report.
1951
Fred Kubai and Bildad Kaggia, two trade unionists, capture control of the Nairobi branch of the KAU. Outbreaks of violence including murder and sabotage become more frequent.
The Kikuyu are split between those who favour the move towards violence and those, mainly from the old Kikuyu establishment, who oppose it.
1952
Speaking at the behest of the colonial authorities, Kenyatta infuriates the KAU central committee by publicly denouncing the Mau Mau.
The new British governor of Kenya, Sir Evelyn Baring, declares a state of emergency and orders the detention of Kenyatta and 150 other political figures – a move taken by the Mau Mau as a declaration of war.
In panic, white Rift Valley farmers expel some 100,000 squatters, providing the Mau Mau with a huge influx of recruits.
In the war that follows it is not white farmers but loyalist Kikuyu who bear the brunt of the violence. At least 2,000 loyalists die. Modern researchers put the final death toll among the Kikuyu rebels at well above 11,500.
Only 32 white civilians are thought to have been killed in the violence over the period of the Mau Mau uprising.
1953
Kenyatta is indicted with five others on charges of managing and being a member of Mau Mau and is sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. He is released in 1961.
1953-60
The British proceed wage an aggressive counter-insurgency against the Mau Mau in response to an increase in attacks on white settlers and their property.
Information in the timeline taken from The State of Africa, by Martin Meredith (pub. The Free Press, 2005)
