Britain admits Mau Mau fighters were tortured

By Kenfrey Kiberenge in London

Britain has for the first time publicly admitted that Mau Mau fighters were tortured during the colonial time, in what could be the turning point to a case by three elderly Kenyans seeking restitution from the former colony.

The shocking admission came at the High Court in London, UK Tuesday as lawyer Guy Mansfield, QC, for the British government cross examined the trio who narrated heartrending stories of sexual abuse and torture they underwent in the hands of colonial masters.

Mansfield, QC said: "I wish to make it clear before I cross examine the three claimants that the defendant (the British government) does not dispute that each of the claimants suffered torture and other ill treatment at the hands of the colonial administration."

Former Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) executive director Muthoni Wanyeki who testified on Monday on behalf of the three, immediately hailed the admission as welcome and significant.

“This will definitely go a long way in helping this case,” said Wanyeki outside the Royal Courts of Justice.

Mr George Morara, the KHRC programmes officer, who has been working on the case also welcomed the admission as “a good step forward”.

“It is significant since this is the first time they are making this admission publicly, although they have held this position privately,” said Morara. “We, however, dispute their claims that the colonial administration in Kenya –as opposed to the UK government- was responsible.”

Wanyeki said this line of argument was defeated in 2011 when Justice Richard McCombe refused to strike out the case on a technicality, where the British government argued that the Kenyan government should assume liability. They held that all new governments take over liabilities from the unseated administration.

The three claimants -Paulo Muoka Nzili, 84, Wambuga Wa Nyingi, 85, and Jane Muthoni Mara, 72, – are seeking to have the UK government admit and apologize for the severe torture and sexual abuse they suffered in the hands of their forces.

A fourth claimant, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, has since died.

On Monday, senior counsel Paul Muite accused Britain of buying time with a lengthy legal process until all claimants are dead.

“The picture that emerges is that the British government is aware these victims are in their 80s and 90s and they are buying time for them to die out,” Muite said.

Muthoni told the court how at 17 a 300ml soda bottle with hot water was brutally forced into her private parts by a home-guard called Edward Gakuha.

She said the torture was supervised by a white man who had been nicknamed Waikanja as the locals could not recall his English name.

“Edward literally forced the bottle into me with the sole of his foot while Waikanja was looking on and directing him,” said Muthoni. “I was in so much pain and I could not stop crying and screaming. This lasted for 30 minutes and was very painful.”

Nzili narrated to the court how he was castrated in 1957 at a detention camp in Embakasi, Nairobi.

“I was taken to an open area in the camp where Luvai (a white man known as Dunman) stripped me naked in front of all other detainees. Kwatanthi (a home guard) was told to pin me to the ground,” recalled Nzili.

“They tied both of my legs with chains and Kwatanthi pinned down both of my hands. Luvai then approached me with a large pair of pliers which were more than a foot long and castrated me.”

Nyingi narrated to the court how British forces arrested him on December 24, 1952 led by a home guard called Kiririo Wambugu, who was his neighbour in Githiru village in Tetu, Nyeri.

“As a reward for betraying me he was given the land I owned which he has occupied to this day,” said Nyingi. He then narrated how he was locked up in a room with 200 other men which forced them to spend the nights standing. The rooms also lacked toilets.

He says at one point, he spent two nights in a dingy room with 11 corpses.

The case is still at a stage where the complainants are seeking to have the presiding judge agree to a full trial, contrary to an objection by the British government who want the case struck out “given the length of time elapsed”.

The Mau Mau veterans are being represented by Richard Hermer QC. On Monday, he requested Justice McCombe to allow the case to go into full trial saying although most of the people accused to have been in the atrocities had died, the question was not if there would be better evidence but about a fair trial.

Hermer also cited the existence extraordinary amount of evidence from documentation from Kenya and UK.

The case got a major boost following revelations that Archbishop Desmond Tutu had called on the British Government to show “magnanimity and compassion” towards the elderly Kenyans fighting for damages over alleged colonial atrocities during the uprising.