Rights Lawyer Expects Payout of $20 Million in Reparations for British Torture of Mau Mau
/- Originally published in the Africa News March 4, 2005
By The East African Standard
Human rights lawyer Martyn Day is helping to put together a case for the Mau Mau to seek reparations from Britain, which he hopes to file around April. He spoke to reporter PATRICK MATHANGANI. Here are excerps.
What prospects do you have of winning the case and what do you regard as your greatest hurdles?
We are facing two hurdles. Under British regulations, demands for damages have to be filed within three years of the event. It's 50 years since the torture of Mau Mau, so we'll have to ask the judge to exercise discretion. Two, we are yet to secure funding. We estimate the cost to be Stg£1 million, but we are hopeful we'll get the money.
What amount of damages will you be demanding and what is the criteria used to determine each case?
People with the worst injuries would get higher damages. If all goes well, we expect between Sh20 million and Sh70 million.
More than 1.5 million people were detained during the Mau Mau uprising. Will you be able to cover all these people?
We have to be reasonable; it is not possible. We will only include people who were tortured, are alive and can prove it. This comes to a few ten thousands. Maybe if we are successful, we can push other cases later.
How do you intend to push the case in court? What are the technicalities?
We may have to present individual cases first; about a dozen people with worst torture evidence, then more will follow. The British government has vowed to fight it by all means, so we are getting the best lawyers to push it through.
How will you determine genuine Mau Mau and those who are not?
The Kenya Human Rights Commission has started a rigorous exercise to do this. It has been a big problem in other cases I've pursued before. Fortunately, (Prof) Caroline (Elkins) has interviewed a lot of people even before we mentioned payments. Imposters appear when you mention money.
There are divisions among the Mau Mau veterans. Some say Britain has already accepted liability and they view the case as irrelevant.
It is worrying that some people say that they'll get compensated without suing. It is not that easy. If it was, it would have happened a long time ago.
In what ways do you think these divisions will affect the case?
There has been divisions everywhere; in our cases in Bangladesh and South Africa. It's human nature. But my concern is for the people who suffered. I don't care about groups.
Don't you think the groups will pose a problem when it comes to sharing out the money, if you win?
That won't be a problem. When British prisoners of war held by the Japanese won compensation, it was first agreed what everyone would get.
The soldiers were then asked to prove their cases. The same will happen here.
What about Mr Lawrence Ngacha? He says High Commissioner Edward Clay has accepted liability.
If Clay comes out openly and announces he has accepted liability, it would be very important. We have looked at what Ngacha claims is acceptance, but it is nothing like that.
We have been in correspondence with the British government since 2003 and given them a chance to admit liability, but they have refused. If Ngacha has convinced all these people to wait for cheques in their mail, they'll be disappointed.
