Mau Mau to wait to 2016 for their case against to start

BY PIUS MAUNDU

@piusmaundu

 piusmaundu@yahoo.com

Uncompensated Mau Mau victims will have to wait until next year for their cases against the British government to be heard, their lawyers revealed yesterday. 

Forty thousand Kenyans who were tortured, mistreated, subjected to forced labor, and detained during the State of Emergecy in 1952, and who were excluded when 5200 others were compensated by the UK government in 2013, have had cases pending in UK courts. 

Freddie Cosgrove-Gibson, whose firm is representing 20, 000 of these claimants, told journalists at a Nairobi hotel that hearing of the cases will start in mid-2016 and continue for six months, following a ruling to that effect by a UK court in December last year.  

“It is disapointing that justice is being delayed for the people of Kenya,” said Mr Cosgrove-Gibson, the lead solicitor for Tandem Law. 

He derided the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) approach to the cases saying that it “has not shown interest in starting any negotiations” despite having settled similar claims. 

 “Nevertheless, we remain committed to work with the court and the FCO to bring these matters to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion,” said Mr Cosgrove-Gibson, whose firm is partnering with Nairobi-based Miller & Company Advocates on the Mau Mau cases. 

In 2013, the same year Mr Cosgrove-Gibson took up the present cases, UK paid 20 million pounds (approximately Kshs 2.6 billion) to 5200 Mau Mau torture victims who were represented by Leigh Day, a UK law firm. 

Making the ruling in favor of the elderly freedom fighters, Mr Justice McCombe had said that there was enough evidence in their case to prove the existence of systematic torture of detainees during the State of Emergency. 

 “We understand the pain and the grief felt by those who were involved in the events of emergency in Kenya,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague had said after the Leigh Day settlement. 

“The British government recognizes that Kenyans were subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration,” added Mr Hague, following the 2013 ruling that pundits saw as precedence-setting. 

Mr Cosgrove-Gibson exuded confidence that he has overwhelming evidence for human rights abuses on his clients and reiterated that the present case is different from the settled one.

In the ongoing case Tandem Law is seeking amends on behalf of its clients for not only being tortured and detained but also being forced to work for British colonialists without pay, he said. 

Cecil Miller, of Miller & Company Advocates said: “Our aim is to secure adequate and long-overdue financial compensation for claimants and hope that this matter can be drawn to a satisfactory conclusion to the elderly claimants before it is too late.”

Mr Miller regretted that some fraudsters purporting to facilitate their compensation by the UK were soliciting money from his clients and urged those who had been fallen victim to report such cases to the police.

He reiterated that his firm did not require payments from the clients, sentiments that were echoed by Mr Cosgrove-Gibson. 

He said that he took up this case following his resolve to redress a wrong that had been committed to Kenyans. 

Asked if he thought the assistance of the Kenyan state would realize justice was served faster to the Mau Mau, Mr Cosgrove-Gibson said that he welcomed any endorsements.

Daily Nation, January 22, 2015