“We understand the pain and grievance of the Kenyan people under the colonial government. The British government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and that they marred Kenya’s progress towards independence. Torture and ill-treatments are violations of human dignity which we unreservedly condemn. ” the foreign secretary of UK, William Hague, said today in a speech that was aimed at giving a public apology for the torture, pain and deaths that were undertaken by the British during colonial rule.
Their stories
“I remember what happened to me when I stole food, I was beaten by my master. He never gave us enough food and even sometimes he never gave us any food at all. So I was just taking what was mine and fighting for my rights. I was then taken to a room and blindfolded. They tied my hands up to a metal with a hard rope. My legs were then tied apart then a person came in with a pliers and castrated me. It was very painful.” A man recounts on documented evidence.
“I remember when I was on a trip going home with my husband and four children. We were stopped on the road and then ordered to lie down. My husband was castrated and then killed in front of my children. I was then stripped and they put a bottle in me. I was pregnant. They killed my children and I have gone through all this pain and I need to be compensated so that I can be satisfied.” A woman says in documented evidence.
Over 90,000 men were killed and thousands and thousands were castrated. These trials began in June 2009 and justice has taken this long to determine that the British were in the wrong side of the law and need to at least offer an apology to these people. Remember that these are survivors of the evils that took place 50 years ago and by now they are very old, still seeking justice.
The British government made the statement of regret earlier today and awarded a compensation of 20 million pounds (approximately 30 million USD) to the 5,200 claimants.
It is, however, important to note how the justice process went in order to get to this number of claimants. This number, 5,200, has been dwindled from an initial 50,000 who the Kenyan Rights Commission (KRC) identified have admitted to claims of torture. It is then said that the KRC did investigation and found 15,000 could support their claims with substantial evidence. Then the 5,200 are the ones who could identify that they were held in British places of detention and were tortured and abused.
This is called separation of wheat from wheat flour.
This shows that the justice game has been used to down play the figures in order to determine the amount of money to give for compensation. Certainly, you don’t just give money to any Kamau and Wangare who claims detentions and abuse, even if they have some evidence.
This kind of justice deserves crucifixion. I am not arguing from the point of view that it is wrong to determine value of a human being in monetary terms because these people want the money, referring to this as an act of slavery can be right too. All I am against is the length of time it took these people to get justice and for the British to admit wrong and evil. Did they really have to be told to do it? Then, is this genuine?
What do we say anyway against those days of enlightenment, the days when we were brought to the light with men that were burdened with it. We were in the dark and perhaps it is true what Kimunya always tells me that, “When you go to Rome do what Romans do”. So in a way we deserved blind dark justice, and apology.