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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| UK responsibility to the Kenyans | UK responsibility to the Kenyans |
| (8 days later) | |
| Your editorial (Kenya – evil and the empire, 6 May) draws a comparison with the South African truth and reconciliation process, suggesting that payment to the victims of British violence in Kenya in the 1950s "coupled to a frank confession might help draw a line". | Your editorial (Kenya – evil and the empire, 6 May) draws a comparison with the South African truth and reconciliation process, suggesting that payment to the victims of British violence in Kenya in the 1950s "coupled to a frank confession might help draw a line". |
| Another means by which the British government could address its historical responsibilities and encourage a frank debate about the imperial past would be to pay for the digitisation of the thousands of files secretly removed from Kenya and dozens of other former colonies on independence. Their existence was revealed only in 2011, and their contents helped to undermine the government's claim that it could not be held liable for past abuses in Kenya. They are now gradually being released at the National Archives in Kew. | Another means by which the British government could address its historical responsibilities and encourage a frank debate about the imperial past would be to pay for the digitisation of the thousands of files secretly removed from Kenya and dozens of other former colonies on independence. Their existence was revealed only in 2011, and their contents helped to undermine the government's claim that it could not be held liable for past abuses in Kenya. They are now gradually being released at the National Archives in Kew. |
| Despite the UK government's claims to the contrary, there is a plausible case for arguing that they are actually the property of the countries in which they were generated. While their physical repatriation would be unlikely to serve anyone's interests, the UK should bear the costs of making them freely available in digitised form. The history of decolonisation is still dominated by the work of generously resourced western historians. This important act of reparation would allow scholars from Britain's former colonies access to key documentation on their countries' struggles for independence. It would also provide a stark memorial to those who have suffered at the hands of British forces. Professor Philip Murphy Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London | Despite the UK government's claims to the contrary, there is a plausible case for arguing that they are actually the property of the countries in which they were generated. While their physical repatriation would be unlikely to serve anyone's interests, the UK should bear the costs of making them freely available in digitised form. The history of decolonisation is still dominated by the work of generously resourced western historians. This important act of reparation would allow scholars from Britain's former colonies access to key documentation on their countries' struggles for independence. It would also provide a stark memorial to those who have suffered at the hands of British forces. Professor Philip Murphy Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London |
| • How will future students of Mr Gove's history curriculum of "our fair island-story", to quote Tennyson, make sense of the government's decision to negotiate compensation for Kenyans tortured in British prison camps in the 1950s? All government denials have finally withered away, thanks to unearthed British documentation and the tenacity of some individuals and organisations, insisting that gross injustice be acknowledged, however long after the event. | • How will future students of Mr Gove's history curriculum of "our fair island-story", to quote Tennyson, make sense of the government's decision to negotiate compensation for Kenyans tortured in British prison camps in the 1950s? All government denials have finally withered away, thanks to unearthed British documentation and the tenacity of some individuals and organisations, insisting that gross injustice be acknowledged, however long after the event. |
| No doubt there will be an outcry about the cost. But that is the price of maintaining the idea of "justice". | No doubt there will be an outcry about the cost. But that is the price of maintaining the idea of "justice". |
| I, a product of Britain's imperial past, get the point. Will Mr Gove? I invite him to read my novel Burn My Heart, set in 1950s Kenya, and to tell me whether this is not also part of Our Island Story. Beverley Naidoo Bournemouth | I, a product of Britain's imperial past, get the point. Will Mr Gove? I invite him to read my novel Burn My Heart, set in 1950s Kenya, and to tell me whether this is not also part of Our Island Story. Beverley Naidoo Bournemouth |
| • Where are the soldiers and their fellows who served in Kenya now? The water boarding and torture was not carried out by (but presumably on the orders of) the British government. Many British soldiers must have been responsible for the acts of torture and degrading treatment finally unearthed. If so, and assuming they are still with us, why are they not being charged? Bernard Tucker Old Alresford, Hampshire | • Where are the soldiers and their fellows who served in Kenya now? The water boarding and torture was not carried out by (but presumably on the orders of) the British government. Many British soldiers must have been responsible for the acts of torture and degrading treatment finally unearthed. If so, and assuming they are still with us, why are they not being charged? Bernard Tucker Old Alresford, Hampshire |
| • Given the huge compensation to be paid (rightly, of course) to thousands of Kenyans, and the prospect of this leading to many more such claims, where will the funds to meet these claims come from? The British taxpayer ought, of course, to pay a large share, since we will all have benefited from the spoils of the empire, both now and in the past. I would also suggest, however, the creation of an empire tax, which targets those whose inherited and/or current wealth arose directly from trade with or ownership in these countries and in whose name such uprisings as the Mau Mau insurgencies were so vigorously suppressed. Pie in the sky, of course, but wouldn't it be a suitable foil to the continuing distribution of awards in the name of said empire? Pauline Rowley Wigan | • Given the huge compensation to be paid (rightly, of course) to thousands of Kenyans, and the prospect of this leading to many more such claims, where will the funds to meet these claims come from? The British taxpayer ought, of course, to pay a large share, since we will all have benefited from the spoils of the empire, both now and in the past. I would also suggest, however, the creation of an empire tax, which targets those whose inherited and/or current wealth arose directly from trade with or ownership in these countries and in whose name such uprisings as the Mau Mau insurgencies were so vigorously suppressed. Pie in the sky, of course, but wouldn't it be a suitable foil to the continuing distribution of awards in the name of said empire? Pauline Rowley Wigan |
| • I have been increasingly horrified and shocked to learn of the atrocities committed in my name by the UK government during the Mau Mau insurgency in Kenya. As a naive young Mzungu (stranger, ie, European) arriving in Uganda in 1955, I now realise what half-truths and outright lies we, the non-indigenous population, were fed by the local English press and radio. Being a protectorate and not a colony, Uganda was not involved in the insurrection, but we were deeply interested in the events occurring just a few miles away over the Kenyan border, the media accounts of which we (or at least I) swallowed wholesale. Adequate compensation for what was done is impossible, but at least the belated recognition of the crimes and the lengthy and the desperate attempts at a cover-up made by successive UK governments, and attempts to compensate the few survivors, may make some amends. John Baker Cambridge | • I have been increasingly horrified and shocked to learn of the atrocities committed in my name by the UK government during the Mau Mau insurgency in Kenya. As a naive young Mzungu (stranger, ie, European) arriving in Uganda in 1955, I now realise what half-truths and outright lies we, the non-indigenous population, were fed by the local English press and radio. Being a protectorate and not a colony, Uganda was not involved in the insurrection, but we were deeply interested in the events occurring just a few miles away over the Kenyan border, the media accounts of which we (or at least I) swallowed wholesale. Adequate compensation for what was done is impossible, but at least the belated recognition of the crimes and the lengthy and the desperate attempts at a cover-up made by successive UK governments, and attempts to compensate the few survivors, may make some amends. John Baker Cambridge |
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