A Blast from the Past

For the best part of my life in Mombasa I live in the moment. Flitting from one thing to the next, life seems full to the brim with endless activities. Recently, it has been my role within the local theatre society’s pantomime  ‘Humpty Dumpty’ which has ballooned into my evening time. Rehearsals currently occur in a friend’s back garden, with the night slowly drawing in, and her extensive array of animals giving an ear in listening to the evening’s proceedings. I am the Captain. As the male love interest, I attempt to capture the Princess Penelope’s heart, ignoring my lowly status to woo the stunning beauty. While the power of the army has never appealed, I now get to concoct a life of routine, marching and giving orders. I clomp around giving a persona of feigned importance, failing to exude anything but comedy in my attempt to convey the intricacies of army life. It is curious to think that it was less than 60 years ago that British officers were within Kenya doing it for real.

Mau Mau rebels celebrate their victory

Reading the BBC news last week I was reminded of that fact. History forcefully assaulted my ability to live in the moment and I was left feeling rather humbled, thinking about the atrocities of colonial-rule Kenya in the 1950s. Last week, on Friday 5^th October, the British government finally accepted liability for the brutal acts of torture and humiliation enforced against the Mau Mau rebels during the fight for Kenyan independence - a landmark case as it was the first time Britain had been sued by a former colony. The Mau Mau rebel group was formed by disenchanted Kikuyu people whose land had been snatched by white settlers. According to Harvard academic Ervine, the British colonial powers, as retaliation to the rebel’s demands, detained almost the entire Kikuyu population and deprived the detainees of food, almost to the point of famine – arguably as a tactic to maintain control and restore their mission of civilizing the population. By the time the rebels were defeated in 1956 the death toll stood at approximately 13,500 Africans compared to 100 Europeans. It is a pleasant surprise (if not miracle) therefore, that walking down the road in Mombasa, there seems little animosity felt towards the British, or the colonial powers.

Where has the negative energy from such violence been channeled, one may wonder? It seems to have transformed into an overriding wish for justice by the rebels. Mr Wa Nyingi, a Mau Mau veteran who had been imprisoned for 9 years under brutal conditions said "I have brought this case because I want the world to know about the years I have lost and what was taken from a generation of Kenyans.” One can appreciate the pain of such proceedings in having to re-live the memories in pursuit of holding Britain accountable and increasing awareness worldwide.

I am therefore shocked to the point of incredulity by the failure of the Kenyan press to cover such a landmark story. I eagerly bought a copy of the Saturday Nation at the weekend to track the newspaper coverage of the revelation. Flicking through the newspaper, the article was conspicuous in its absence. My surprise bubbled with the knowledge that the aims of the Mau Mau rebels were being flouted by the very country which should support them. Yes, I realise that as a British ‘alien’ in Kenya, I should be wary of any article sparking such anti-British sentiment, yet half of me wanted to publicise the news from the rooftops.

It is with this conviction I decided to write this blog entry. Not as a Brit apologising for the brutality of the 1950s genocide (I realise I am just one small figure in a very big ocean on that account), but merely as a pseudo-journalist trying to cover a news story which the Kenyan press omitted with what appears to be purposeful ignorance.