Lawyers are the biggest beneficiaries of the £19.9 million ($31.1 million) British out-of-court compensation to the former Kenyan freedom fighters.

The 5,200 Mau Mau claimants are set to share £13.9 million ($21.65 million) while the British law firm, Leigh Day, will pocket £6 million ($9.35 million).

Paul Muite, one of the local lawyers involved in the case, said Kenyan lawyers had not charged for their services in the Mau Mau case.
The local lawyers were George Morara, Gitobu Imanyara and Mr Muite.

The out-of court settlement marked the British government’s first official admission that its troops had committed atrocities in Kenya from 1953 as the crackdown on freedom fighters began following the declaration of a State of Emergency.

For years, London had refused to accept responsibilities for its colonial atrocities in Kenya and dismissed the freedom fighters as terrorists.

The UK legal team sought to justify the amount it would be paid, stating that they had deployed huge resources in researching and presenting the case in courts.

“We have fought a rigorous battle of four years, we have employed a huge team to the case and also research work. That is why the cost is a bit high,” said Martin Day, the lawyer who kickstarted the compensation case.

Part of this included the discovery of thousands of documents on Mau Mau that had been hidden in a London vault and which directly incriminated the British civil servants.

On Thursday, the UK government announced that they were abandoning an appeal they had lodged and agreed to pay compensation of £2,600 ($4,050) per claimant.

In the settlement document, the UK government agreed “to pay the legal costs of the case to ensure the claimants received all the agreed monies.”

Mr Day was also involved in the 2002 suit by Maasai and Samburu pastoralists, who had been injured by bombs left in the Laikipia plains by British troops training in Kenya.

British High Commissioner Christian Turner expressed regret over his government’s actions to the Mau Mau members.

“The court did not find the government liable, but in spite of that, there is this deep expression of regret and acknowledgement that wrongs were committed” he said.

Change of heart

The UK government agreed to an out-of- court settlement with the group after its efforts to have the case ruled as stale were dismissed.

“We have accepted what the British government has given. Is it sufficient? It can’t be sufficient. I was locked up for seven years with my dad. But one in the hand is better than 10 in the bush. That statement (of acknowledging that a wrong was done and sincere regret) alone is sufficient even without the money,” said former MP Gitu Wa Kahengeri, one of the Mau Mau veterans.

Earlier in London, the British Cabinet Secretary William Hague had told Parliament about the government’s “regret.”

Mr Kahengeri said the Mau Mau had factored the period that it would take to settle the case in court and opted for the out-of-court settlement to ensure that they enjoyed the compensation while they were still alive. Though the members filed the case in 2009 they were yet to appear in court indicating how long the case could have stretched if they followed the court process.

The settlement is likely to open a slew of other cases in other British colonies and from other Kenyan groups who felt locked out in the settlement.