Mau Mau to sue UK for compensation
Mau Mau spokesman, Mr Gitu Kahengeri (centre) addresses the press at a Nairobi hotel on Sunday. With him are the movement’s lawyers Paul Muite and Dan Leader of Leigh Day and Co solicitors from London. The veterans will file a reparation suit in London on June 23. Photo/PAUL WAWERU
The much anticipated lawsuit against the British government for the atrocities committed against freedom fighters in Kenya during the colonial period will be filed next month.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission has instructed London-based solicitors, Leigh Day & Co to commence the process.
If successful, it would lead to the compensation of the surviving freedom fighters.
This comes in the wake of claims of massive human rights violations against the Mau Mau fighters by the British government like torture and unlawful detentions. They were committed during the emergency period in the 1950s and 60s.
And on Sunday, the human rights lobby, through its acting deputy Executive Director Tom Kagwe said the suit will be filed at the British High Court on June 23.
Mr Kagwe told a news conference in Nairobi that they had already documented 40 of gross human rights violations against the freedom fighters.
Most of the cases were said to have been carried out by rogue British officers from policies which were sanctioned at the highest levels of their government.
Mr Dan Leader, a lawyer with Leigh Day & Co added: “What we now want is that the British apologise for the wrongs committed at the time and compensate survivors of the Mau Mau movement.”
Lawyer Paul Muite said apart from the compensation, the freedom fighters will also be seeking to regain the respect and dignity they lost as a result of the atrocities.
