In sum, Mau Mau memorial serves to debunk certain myths

Last week’s launch of the Mau Mau memorial, which honours the sacrifices of the Mau Mau freedom fighters in Kenya’s liberation struggle, has a beautiful story behind it.

As the organisation that shouldered the arrangements that led to a suit against the British Government in London, the settlement of which led to the payment of a financial compensation to the freedom fighters and the building of the memorial, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) is at the heart of that story.

Davinder Lamba, a member of the KHRC board and a highly reputable architect who has made his name as a human rights activist, far away from his primary profession, drew the architectural designs and supervised the building of the memorial.

KHRC'S PRIMATE ROLE

The cast of heroes for this project must start with lawyers Paul Muite and Gibson Kamau Kuria as well as Mau Mau veteran Gitu Kahengeri, who conceived the idea of a suit against the British Government for colonial-era atrocities.

They then approached the KHRC, then headed by Willy Mutunga, with Makau Mutua as chair, and a decision to file a suit in London was eventually made.

John Nottingham, who served as a colonial-era administrator stationed in Nyeri during the emergency, now an elderly Kenyan citizen, provided much valued credibility to the case.

The KHRC did most of the heavy lifting, which included finding and organising the claimants, numbering tens of thousands but, after vetting, reduced to the 5,000 that received the court award.

The KHRC also liaised with the lawyers in Kenya and London, conducted research on the Mau Mau atrocities and arranged for the hearings in London.

OUTLAWED GROUP
It transpired that the Mau Mau were still officially classified as an outlawed group in Kenya, and that this might complicate the claim. As NARC ministers, Kiraitu Murungi and Chris Murungaru got President Kibaki to lift the ban.

The hearings in London are themselves part of the beauty of the story, whose details include transporting elderly Mau Mau veterans, many in poor health, to a strange land to give evidence.

With only a small budget, the KHRC got Kenya Airways to give discounted airfares for them and the Kenyan diaspora in London, and British friends responded by hosting the veterans in their homes.

Short on funds, because no donor would touch the project at that stage, the KHRC had been forced to hold a Kenyan-style harambee to raise money for the costs paid into court as would allow the case to go on, with the late Achieng Oneko as chief guest.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

When Mutunga left the KHRC, his successors Wanjiku Miano and then Muthoni Wanyeki carried on with the case. It was during Atsango Chesoni’s tenure that the compensation was paid.

While the government did not oppose the case, it offered no support either. Any backing from government officials was individual discretion rather than official policy.

Attorney- General Amos Wako helped by procuring a legal opinion on the case. Njeri Kabeberi was instrumental in getting the Foreign Minister, Moses Wetang’ula, to write a letter to his UK counterpart in support of the case.

When, as Prime Minister during the coalition government, Raila Odinga took a clear position in support of the case in London, even writing to his UK counterpart to enlist his support, this brought clarity to the official position on the case and increased government support.

POLITICAL DISSIDENTS

The Attorney-General’s legal opinion on state succession, prepared by the current Attorney-General Githu Muigai, then in private practice, argued that the responsibilities of the colonial state were not taken over by the independence state.

This became the eventual finding by the judges in London and signified a collapse of the legal defence that the British Government had mounted, forcing it to submit to an out-of-court settlement which resulted in the payment of damages and an agreement to finance the memorial.

In a sense, the Mau Mau case is a project predominantly controlled by people who have become political dissidents since Jubilee took power.

Chaired by Makau Mutua, the Buffalo University law professor who criticises the Jubilee Government, the KHRC board also has Muthoni Wanyeki, Davinder Lamba, Maina Kiai, the founding executive director of the organisation, and columnists Godwin Murunga and Father Gabriel Dolan, all of whom are viewed as anti-establishment figures.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH
While this was not a problem at the start of the project, the anti-establishment stance of the KHRC did not provide an ideal situation in the preparations for the launch of the memorial.

Although invited, President Uhuru Kenyatta skipped the event, only sending a minister. In the end, the long preparations to meet everyone’s expectations about the launch were not good enough to make him attend.

Also, not a single elected representative from central Kenya attended. Unsuccessful attempts had been made to re-characterise the project, to give the government more control and edge out the KHRC.

While prepared to share the glory with the government, the KHRC had done too much to be wished away.

PARTNERSHIP COLLAPSE
At one level, the history of the Mau Mau project reflects the decline in the country’s governance standards, leading to a collapse of the partnership that once existed between government and civil society.

At another, the project is a demonstration of the spectacular success achieved by a small but determined Third-World NGO, together with its partners, which brought a colonial power to account for past transgressions.

In sum, the project debunks myths that have emerged that people, like those running the KHRC, who were once good in the eyes of the country, have suddenly started working for foreign masters and against the national interest.

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