Firm seeks pay scheme for war veterans

A UK-based law firm has asked the British government to state whether or not it is prepared to propose a compensation scheme for former Mau Mau fighters.

“It would be helpful to be told of that fact so that our clients’ consent, or otherwise does not unduly prolong matters.

"We are mindful that many of our clients are elderly and in poor health,” Tandem Law said in a letter to The Treasury Solicitor’s Department in London and the Legal Directorate at Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The purpose of the letter, Tandem Law managing director Andrew Lindsay has said, is to give the government a formal notice of the facts of claims for damages by 2,000 Mau Mau war victims from who they have recorded witness statements.

This follows a recent ruling by the High Court in London in which three elderly Kenyans were given a go-ahead to sue the British Government for abuse of their rights during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s. (READ: Mau mau veterans win torture case against Britain)

Leigh Day & Company, another UK law firm, is representing Mrs Jane Muthoni Mara, Mr Paulo Muoka Nzili and Mr Wambugu Wa Nyingi.

In the Tandem case, claimants who include Mukami Kimathi, the widow of slain Mau Mau general Dedan Kimathi, are accusing the British government of ill-treatment during the state of emergency imposed by colonial government in October 1952.

They are claiming liability for assault, rape, battery, negligence and false imprisonment.

The claimants are also blaming the British government for breaching international obligation in force at the time and for exceeding the scope of administrative orders promulgated during this state of emergency.

To prove their case, Mr Lindsay has said in his letter that the claimants intend to rely on records of discussions between the Colonial Administration and the British government.

The discussion, he has further said, would establish the defendants’ knowledge of the system of ill-treatment pursued by the colonial administration.

Mau Mau was still illegal

Hansard debates during the declaration of the state of emergency would be another reference the elderly Kenyans will use to prove their case.

Mr Lindsay has told the British government that their clients would not have sought legal advice to understand the nature of their claims before 2003 since Mau Mau was still an illegal organisation in Kenya.

Tandem Law does not wish to go to court on the grounds that their clients have claims, instead they want to discuss with their government how it can come up with a compensation scheme for the former Mau Mau fighters.