Kericho centenarian key witness in land case to be filed against Britain

Mzee Chepkwony Tikita arap Chumo, who was among people evicted from their land by British colonial settlers in what is now Kericho County. He is expected to be a key witness in a compensation case to be filed in Britain by the government of Kericho. PHOTO | TIMOTHY KIMEI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mzee Chepkwony Tikita arap Chumo does not know his exact age, but his family members estimate that he is 120 years old.
  • Before being ejected for the first time, he and his siblings were living in a farm called Ikwembe, where they were born.
  • The white colonialists were to follow the family to Tabaik just four years after they moved there, evicting them for the third time.
  • Lawyers from several leading law firms have been interviewed as the county seeks to select a dependable counsel who will file the case on behalf of the residents.

Mzee Chepkwony Tikita arap Chumo does not know his exact age, but his family members estimate that he is 120 years old.

A chat with the old man at his home near Kericho Town reveals a man who, despite his advanced age, maintains a sharp memory and a wealth of information about pre-independence Kenya.

He has vague memories of events that occurred when he was still young, such as the famous battle of Mogori of 1899 in which the Kalenjin community is said to have been vanquished by the Abagusii. He was barely five years old when it happened.

However, he vividly remembers the advent of the seven-year-long World War II in 1939 as a "very confusing time" for Kenyans who were unsure what the fight was all about.

He was in Nakuru when he heard the news that war had broken out.

Mzee Chumo also recalls working for Oliver Brooke, one of the founders of Brooke Bond Kenya (now Unilever Tea Limited), as a chef for 24 years before retiring.

Before that, he had worked for other settlers, whom he only remembers as McWilliams and Richardson for a collective 30 years.

EARNED SH3 PER MONTH

When he started working for the British families, he earned Sh3 per month, which was itself a princely sum at the time. This would gradually rise to Sh6, Sh15 and Sh100.

The old man says he got married in 1932 and had one wife and seven children.

While Kenyans were celebrating their independence from their colonial masters in 1963, he was in Tanzania, where he had accompanied Mr Brooke, who had gone there to set up a business.

“I remember voting for Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, who was running on the Tanganyika African National Union (Tanu) party. Nyerere used to hold elaborate campaigns,” he says.

EVICTED FROM ANCESTRAL LAND

However, the memory which irks him the most, and which he says he will never forget, is the manner in which he and his entire family were unceremoniously and illegally kicked out of their ancestral land several times by white setters.

He claims that his family of five children suffered this misfortune not once, not even twice, but four times. Why? It was because the British settlers were out to get the space needed for the creation of tea farms that characterise Kericho County today.

Mzee Chumo told Nation.co.ke at his home in Brooke, Kericho Town, that before being ejected for the first time, he and his siblings were living on a farm called Ikwembe, where they were born.

From there his family moved to the place where the head offices of the Tea Research Foundation (TRF) are currently located.

NATIVES HELPLESS

He recalls that he was just a year shy of undergoing initiation when the evictions took place and shook his head as he regretted the inability of the natives to shield themselves and protect their land from the well-armed colonialists who did not flinch at the thought of killing anyone who stood in their way.

“It was in 1916 when we were chased from our home. They told us ‘Hakuna nafasi yenu hapa’ (There is no space for you here), and we ran away because we were afraid of the white man. Now I demand compensation for it,” he says.

After the eviction, the family moved to another area known as Tabaik, a short distance away from their former home. At the time, the land was considered communal and with a smaller population, people could live wherever they desired.

The white colonialists were to follow the family to Tabaik just four years after they moved there, evicting them for the third time.

MORE EVICTIONS

The Chepkwony family moved to Chamase (also known now as Kimase) near what is currently Saosa Tea Estate and then to Cheboswa and later to his current home in Brooke after a series of more evictions by the colonial settlers.

Nearly 100 years since his family suffered the alleged injustice, Mr Chumo finally got the much-needed opportunity to seek recourse after he was selected to be one of the key witnesses who will give evidence against Britain in a landmark compensation case.

The case being planned by Kericho County aims at demanding compensation for direct descendants of those whose lands were taken away many years ago by the colonial settlers to pave way for tea plantations.

“I feel very lucky to have been alive at a time when the case against the British is being filed. I want justice and I am going to demand that I be compensated for the loss of our land, which as Kalenjins we deeply value,” he added.

LAND COMMUNALLY OWNED

The old man, however, does not remember the sizes of the land that he says were taken forcefully from his family, noting that in the old days, there was no subdivision of land as it was owned communally.

In August 2014, the Kericho County government formally started the process of pursuing billions of shillings in compensation from the British over alleged land atrocities that were meted against the Kipsigis and Talai communities.

Lawyers from several leading law firms have been interviewed as the county seeks to select a dependable counsel who will file the case on behalf of the residents in London, the United Kingdom.

The Kericho County Assembly had in the same month passed a motion that mandated the government of Governor Chepkwony to file the suit and also demand an apology from the current British government and the royal family over a raft of injustices that they allege took place during the pre-independence era.

DEMAND COMPENSATION

The counsel, who will soon be revealed to the public, will be given the task of demanding compensation for thousands of surviving family members of people who were kicked out of their land to create space for massive tea farms in Kericho.

“The motion passed by the assembly authorises us to file a case against the colonial government for forceful acquisition of land which belonged to the Kipsigis and Talai Communities. We will do whatever is necessary to get justice for those affected,” Prof Chepkwony said.

He said the issue was widely covered in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) report, which was presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013, indicating that the information in the report will be used to back up the case against Britain.

This will be the second compensation case arising from the British colonisation of Kenya after a similar case was filed a few years ago by the Mau Mau fighters.

More than 5,000 Mau Mau war veterans in 2013 received Sh2.6 billion in compensation from Britain and even obtained an apology from then British Foreign Minister William Hague.

Prof Chepkwony revealed, however, that the amount being sought in compensation remains unclear as an assessment is yet to be conducted, only insisting that it would take into account "every centimetre of land currently under the multinational tea companies operating in Kericho.