MAU MAU LEGALISM

THE history of British colonialism has pages that do credit to the principles that drove it and the people who were guided by them. But there are also pages which bring disgrace for the way in which the positive practice of colonialism was ignored and abused. These negative pages have often been kept out of sight or redacted before publication and come to attention only after many years. A particularly unsatisfactory example of such late revelation are the papers of the colonial government of Kenya concerning the British response to the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has made them available only because of a landmark case being heard in Britain's high court in which four Kenyan survivors of British torture and abuse are seeking an apology and compensation.

There are several aspects of this case which require critical examination but the most immediate one is the Foreign Office's reported intention to argue that responsibility for the British colonial government's actions were devolved to the new successor Kenyan government when it achieved independence and that therefore abuses against the Mau Mau are the responsibility of today's government in Nairobi.

This piece of legal nonsense may still be found in dusty archives of past judgements but it is not an argument that should be used in the 21st century by a government that values its reputation.