Britain to pay 20 million pounds in compensation to Kenyan victims

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Britain has announced to offer compensations to Kenyans who were directly affected by the rebellion against colonial rule in the 1950s. Foreign Secretary William Hague declared that more than 5,200 Kenyans will be compensated through a total package worth nearly 20 million pounds.

Hague said Britain realizes that a large number of Kenyans were abused – physically and mentally – and the British government fully regrets it. These Kenyans – now elderly – were tortured and even sexually abused by the British authorities tasked to contain the Mau Mau rebellion.

“The British government recognizes that Kenyans were subject to torture and other forms of ill treatment at the hands of the colonial administration. The British government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and that they marred Kenya’s progress towards independence,” Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament in London.

Earlier, three elderly Kenyan victims of torture were officially given the right in October to sue the British government. The British government was alarmed by the court’s verdict which could encourage numerous people in other former colonies to file petitions against the government.

“[I hope Hague’s statement will be] the final resolution of this legal battle that has been ongoing for so many years. The elderly victims of torture now at last have the recognition and justice they have sought for many years. For them the significance of this moment cannot be overemphasized,” Martyn Day, a lawyer for the Kenyans said.