‘We've never received what we were fighting for’ - Mau Mau veteran says justice still denied decades after independence from British colonial rule

"Maina wa Murigu, a Mau Mau war veteran, said in Nairobi on Monday that fighters are still waiting for justice and recognition decades after independence, as the debate over colonial-era land loss continues. "What we were fighting for, we never received. The president refused to give us land instead; he killed our leaders like General Baimungi and General Chui," Murigu said. The Mau Mau uprising took place in the 1950s as thousands of Kikuyu, Meru and Embu fighters resisted British colonial rule. Veterans say they endured detention, torture, displacement and the loss of land during the colonial crackdown, with justice still unresolved more than six decades later. The uprising involved an estimated 30,000 fighters using makeshift weapons and guns taken from killed British soldiers and their supporters. Initially centred in the Aberdare and Mount Kenya forests, the conflict later spread after Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi urged fighters to extend operations into the reserves, where communities were facing pressure from colonial forces. Murigu recalled the violence of the conflict, saying, "I was hit by a grenade and broke my leg," as he described battles between Mau Mau fighters and British forces. He added that many fighters expected change after independence was achieved in 1963 but argued those hopes were not fully met. "We were fighting to have our land back and independence, and our demand until today is to get our land back and be compensated since our parents died without ever getting justice, and we are soon following them," Murigu explained. The conflict is viewed as a key factor in Kenya's independence from British rule. The death toll is contested as British official figures suggest that 11,000 militants were killed alongside nearly 100 British soldiers and European settlers. Unofficially, the toll is estimated much higher. The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, and 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions."

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