Does Mau Mau compensation make economic sense?

By  X.N.  Iraki

After half a century, Mau Mau veterans will be paid an average of Sh367,780 per person. Unfortunately, most of the veterans are long dead and their heroic deeds forgotten by a generation more at home with new heroes from Spiderman to Chuck Norris.  How many history teachers have ever invited a Mau Mau war veteran to their classes?

How many of the young generation know Mau Mau, a beehive as the post office and showering was a luxury?  The closest we go to Mau Mau war is watching movies and acting them through carjacking, kidnaps and all other crimes.

50 years after the Union Jack was lowered, our parents, for some grandparents will get money only enough to buy only one acre of land in Nyandarua or other newly settled places.

That compensation can be improved; it is pittance and not commensurate with the torture and suffering of our most patriotic generation. It should be topped by the British Government and dare I say our government. Did these men and women not fight for the freedom we enjoy today including arbitrary salary hikes?

The Jubilee Government should quickly set a department of veterans, men and women who have put their lives on the line for us including the soldiers fighting in Somalia. 

Men and women

 Scattered across the country are numerous commonwealth memorial cemeteries, well manicured including the famous Makaburini on Uhuru Highway, where a careless mistake at night ensures you will join those silently sleeping there -courtesy of gangsters.

Why don’t we have a cemetery for the Mau Mau veterans? Shall they be buried at the heroes’ corner? How comes the men and women who fought in World War I and World II in far flung places like Libya and Burma  have no resting place in their own homeland- they are buried in places where they are soon forgotten ?

more meaningful

The Mau Mau reparations are not enough; we can go beyond money.  Other nations have build memorials to their departed heroes. A visit to Washington DC reveals a city full of monuments.

We could also make compensation more meaningful by living to the ideals of those who sacrificed so much for us. How many of us would die for this country today? How many go beyond the call of duty? How many care for others excluding relatives?

Some have boldly suggested that we lack heroes in this country or better we do not make any. That explains why we do unusual things to attract attention of the society from heinous crime to grand corruptions.

It is time we made heroism a national past time. How many governors have a program of recognizing heroes in their counties? Why do have a road named Bweha in Nairobi instead of naming it after our heroes? When did a fox become a hero in Kenya?

It would be unfair if the compensation means the beginning of the eventual forgetting of Mau Mau. Instead, it should start a national soul searching on how we deal with our heroes, particularly those who parents are less known.

The money given to these veterans will soon be used up and hopefully not foughtover by their progeny. But the sacrifices they made can inspire generations to come, long after our feeble bodies have turned into dust…

—The writer is a lecturer, University of Nairobi School of Business. Email: xniraki@gmail.com