Row looms over Mau Mau payout list

By Kipchumba Kemei and Steve Mkawale

Narok, Kenya: A row is brewing over the list of Mau Mau veterans to be compensated by the British Government over alleged abuse under the hands of colonial officers.

Mau Mau War Veterans Association said there were many people who fought for independence who are not in the list of those who would be compensated and petitioned UK to carry out further interviews with the victims to ascertain their exact number.

According to the association’s secretary Karaya Ngare, most of those on the list of beneficiaries are former homeguards who collaborated with the colonialists.

“We are apprehensive that when the British Government compensates some 5,000 people who claim to have been victims of independence war, home guards who were traitors will benefit,” said Ngare.

He said the former colonial administration should ensure it carries out proper investigations so that genuine freedom fighters are not left out. Speaking in Narok on Wednesday, Ngare claimed the interviewing panel carried out a flawed process of identifying genuine war veterans in the Sh340,000 per individual payout deal and expressed concern that there were people who would be locked out once the exercise is concluded.

Representatives from the British Government will today meet a group of war veterans in Nairobi led by association chairman Gitu Wa Kahengeri to finalise the compensation process.

Suit documents

At the same time, lawyers representing Mau Mau victims have been directed to provide documents of the suits and lists of their clients to the Law Society of Kenya. The advocates have also been warned against collecting cash from the freedom fighters.

According to an agreement reached after two meetings held in Nairobi on Saturday and Monday, the lawyers based in the UK and their local counterparts have pledged to uphold professionalism to protect the victims of the colonial administration’s brutality from falling into the hands of unscrupulous agents posing as advocates.