To compensate MAUMAU victims £20M is not fair!

Read my Article on British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC)

I come from Murang’a, central Kenya, where the MAUMAU movement had very strong roots. My house is located near Mukurwe-ini wa Nyagathanga where the Kikuyus are known to have first settled on arrival to East Africa. The close proximity to this location meant that my grandparents, as well as other members of the community, were privy to in-house discussions of the MAUMAU movement going on during the war as Murang’a was one of the strongest commanding centres.

Growing up as a young lad my grandfather used to tell us that we should always pray that Kenya never goes to war again. He would tell us of the brutality of the MAUMAU movement and how they terrorised people who were thought to be traitors of what they considered to be a cause for everyone: fight the colonialists to get back their land and freedom.

With pain on his face he would tell us how every man was expected to go to war. Those who did not go were somehow expected to guard MAUMAU interests at home as they went to the forest to wage war against the British. He would go on and on about how MAUMAU would make visits unannounced and steal food from farms and animals for slaughter. No one was expected to object to that and those who did suffered maximum penalty of death but the few who escaped death received irreversible trauma that they live to tell of up to this day.

My father, barely eight years of age at the time of the conflict, would recall how his family of nine would often be moved from one place to another by the colonial government as they attempted to limit the contact between MAUMAU and the rest of the population. Tears would run down the face of my white-bearded grandfather as he recounted his personal experiences with the colonial government. They were taken from one detention camp to another and their families would take ages to know where they were.

What happened in those concentration camps, as he would always narrate, was beyond belief! Men would be ordered to strip and their private parts would receive a thorough beating. He watched as people died in those camps and those that came back would tell of atrocities committed by the government of the day that were too graphic for my young mind. Women who were suspected to have been wives of the MAUMAU bore the brunt of it all. The colonial interrogators would shove bottles into their private parts to ensure they gave up every bit of information about their husbands.

We as the Kenyan people will be celebrating 50 years of independence and the end of the year and we are glad we are no longer at war with one another. Britain though our colonial masters then is our greatest friend and development partner. Her influence can be felt in every part of our lives whether political, socially or ecumenical. We have enjoyed peace and good relations between Kenyan and British people since the end of the war.

Listening to the stories of the MAUMAU victims and the suffering on the hands of the British government and their desire to sincerely forgive and move on is just incredible. These old, frail and probably near-death-bed Kenyan heroes and heroines are asking of two things; acknowledgement and sincere apologies from the British government that evil was committed against them and secondly a good compensation that would give them a decent short life remaining for them. 

The idea that British Government will be spending within the range of £20M for the compensation of the MAUMAU victims should leave us all worried. It is true that no money can buy back a life lost or taken away past pain and suffering but to think that these freedom fighters who had a just cause are worth that much is just laughable! If we are to teach others about justice we will have to lead from the front!