Queen Nwabueze
The issue of colonial-era land grabs has taken a new dimension in Kenya as a group dragged the UK government before the European Court of Human Rights, accusing it of major crimes committed in what is now known as Kericho County.
The lawyer, Joel Kimutai Bosek, representing the group said the UK government has repeatedly avoided every opportunity to address the issue, hence the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, crimes committed by the UK in Kericho during colonial times ranged from land theft, torture and mistreatment of locals. As many as half a million Kenyans suffered gross human rights violations during British colonial rule, the United Nations has said.
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The Kenyan group is now seeking a proper investigation of the colonial-era land grabs, redress and compensation for the dispute.
“The UK Government has ducked and dived, and sadly avoided every possible avenue of redress for colonial-era land grabs in Kenya. We have no choice but to proceed to court for our clients so that history can be righted,” said the lawyer, Joel Kimutai Bosek.
Reuters reported that some Kenyans are still suffering the economic consequences of the alleged colonial-era land grabs by the UK.
Located in the highlands west of the Rift Valley, Kericho is a prime location for commercial farming. It is also one of the top locations for tea production in the world today.
“Today, some of the world’s most prosperous tea companies, like Unilever, Williamson Tea, Finlay’s and Lipton, occupy and farm these lands and continue to use them to generate considerable profits,” the group said in a statement.
Their major concern on the issue of colonial-era land grabs is that they are not benefitting from the economic benefits of the lands, even though said lands originally belonged to their ancestors.
The companies that currently occupy the lands and profit from them have not yet commented on the lawsuit.
Great step.
The companies that are the beneficiaries of this colonial abuse and usurpation must held to pay the descendants of those heinosly dispossessed of their inheritance by colonial power.
Everything has its time. This is time of reckoning for the colonial wicked masters.