Faith Nyasuguta
Later this month, King Charles will acknowledge the “painful aspects” of Britain’s past actions in Kenya during a state visit.
The upcoming visit follows an invitation from the country’s president, William Ruto, whose country will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its independence from Britain on 12 December.
The two nations have enjoyed a tight relationship in recent years despite the violent colonial legacy of an uprising in the early 1950s, which led to a period known as “the emergency”, which ran from 1952 until 1960.
The Mau Mau armed movement was fuelled by the resentment some members of the Kikuyu tribe felt towards their British rulers and European settlers who farmed land in Kenya, as well as at a lack of political representation.
White farmers were targeted in violent attacks as were some Kikuyu who were said to have collaborated with the authorities.
According to the Kenya Human Rights Commission, 90,000 people were executed, tortured or maimed during the British administration’s counterinsurgency operation.
The UK government made a historic statement of regret in 2013 over the “torture and other forms of ill-treatment” perpetrated by the colonial administration during the emergency period and paid reparations of £19.9m to about 5,200 people.
Charles and Queen Camilla will spend four days in Kenya from October 31 to November 3. It will mark Charles’s first visit to a Commonwealth country as king.
His deputy private secretary, Chris Fitzgerald, said: “The king and queen’s programme will celebrate the close links between the British and Kenyan people in areas such as the creative arts, technology, enterprise, education and innovation.”
“The visit will also acknowledge the more painful aspects of the UK and Kenya’s shared history, including the emergency … His Majesty will take time during the visit to deepen his understanding of the wrongs suffered in this period by the people of Kenya.”
The development came following a legal battle between a number of elderly victims and the UK government.
Charles signalled his support in April for research into the British monarchy’s historical links with transatlantic slavery after the emergence of a document showing a predecessor’s stake in a slave-trading company.
News outlets published a previously unseen document showing the 1689 transfer of £1,000 of shares in the slave-trading Royal African Company to King William III, from Edward Colston, the company’s deputy governor.
Buckingham Palace did not comment on the document but said it supported a research project, co-sponsored by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), which manages several palaces, into the monarchy’s involvement in the slave trade.
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