It took almost exactly 60 years to the day for three Kenyans to hear the words they’d spent most of their adult lives waiting for—the words saying that the tortures they experienced at the hands of the British colonial government were “arguable cases in law.”
EVERYWHERE AND HEREIt took almost exactly 60 years to the day for three Kenyans to hear the words they’d spent most of their adult lives waiting for—the words saying that the tortures they experienced at the hands of the British colonial government were “arguable cases in law.”
In a landmark case, the High Court in London ruled that the three—Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambuga Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara—had the right to take their case to trial despite the length of time that had passed.
The trio—the two men in their mid-80s and Mara in her 70s—were members of the Mau Mau freedom fighter movement in the 1950s, as Kenya fought for independence from the British colonial government.
They claim they were “brutally tortured by the British colony” while in detention, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
They’re finally going to get their day in court. Sixty years is a long time to wait.
Instead of seeing this as a chance to redress some of the inarguably oppressive and repressive actions and policies of its previous empirical regime, the British government’s position has been to hide “behind technical legal defenses…to avoid any legal responsibility,” the trio’s lawyer said.
The government is attempting to squeeze its way through a loophole: the claim that when Kenya was declared independent in 1963, the U.K. essentially transferred any legal liabilities it had to the new Kenyan government.
Nice. Washing their hands, they said, “We’re outta here. Enjoy the mess we’ve left you!”
It wasn’t a small mess, either. The plaintiffs’ allegations range from castration to severe and continual beatings, as well as “appalling sexual abuse,” the BBC reported. These are only three cases, mind you, and are isolated examples of the widespread atrocities common to the colonial era.
To provide some perspective: In Kenya alone, 90,000 people were executed during this time.
You’d think that, as history presents a devastating view of colonization’s effects as a whole, the British foreign office would attempt to at least save face, if not actually make right some of the wrongs inherent to its legacy.
As leading proponents of the crusade to “divide and conquer,” the British Empire reaped untold riches from its subjugation and exploitation of sovereign nations and people, stealing their cultural, social, political, religious and economic freedoms and forcing upon them its own regime.
That the government now has the audacity to say, “It’s not our problem,” is not only offensive, it’s immoral.
It would be one thing if officials were denying anything happened, but they’re not. They can’t.
In fact, the official statement is, “We do not dispute that each of the claimants in this case suffered torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.”
Hmm. It seems that when you know a crime has been committed, the response should be at least a pretense of taking responsibility. Don’t they have a public relations person?
Sadly, they probably have a great one. Which is why they’re staying as far away from this as they can.
Though it would make all the sense in the world for the government to protect its image and duly right this wrong that hangs over its head, the number of worms that could crawl out of this can present numerous, incalculable reasons why they won’t.
If this case goes to court and the judge rules in favor of the three plaintiffs, there will be hell to pay. Thanks to the wide-reaching empirical ambitions of the 1800s, claims of colonial abuses will in no way be isolated to Kenya alone.
As one BBC commentator observed, “there will undoubtedly be victims of colonial torture from Malaya to the Yemen, from Cyprus to Palestine, who will be reading this judgement with great care.” If the British government is found liable and a precedent is set, there is no telling how many lawsuits will be filed in the future.
I, for one, fervently hope that colonial giants like Britain and their partners-in-crime, whose administrations raped, pillaged and tortured innocent people to line their own pockets, will be forced to dig deep—really deep—back into those same pockets and repay what is only a fraction of what they stole.
