A mother’s 60-year quest for justice

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Mathenge Iregi (Center) conducting prayers during Mau Mau War Veterans Association (MMWVA) press conference at Kenya Human Rights Commission offices in Nairobi on July 7, 212 ahead of a hearing of their case in London between July 16 and July 27, 2012. Photo/BILLY MUTAI 

By PETER OBUYA potieno@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, July 8  2012 at  23:30

IN SUMMARY

• Cries when both father and mother were whisked away in different directions were the last thing woman heard from her children

Not only did she lose her three children, but also went through torture and detention.

That was way back on December 22, 1952, in the hands of British colonialists. Now Mama Naomi Nziula Kimweli is demanding justice.

That Monday morning six decades ago, her family left Nairobi for their rural home in Katange village, Yatta constituency of Machakos County. As their bus approached Athi River, a white armed man she only identified as Bwana Luvai waved it down and ordered all passengers out.

He then directed homeguards to bundle the passengers into different lorries before they were taken to Lukenya.

I was pregnant

“I was bundled into a different van because I was pregnant. I was then taken to some room where I was tortured and miscarried,” a bitter Mama Kimweli told the Nation at the weekend, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Her three children, Mutua Kimweli (7), Mutunga Kimweli (5) and daughter Kakwasi Kimweli then aged 4 were left behind.

The cries of the young ones as both father and mother were whisked away in different directions were the last Mrs Kimweli heard about her children. They have never been traced to date.

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She said a bottle was forced into her genitals until she collapsed; when she regained consciousness she was in hospital.

Her husband, Mzee Jacob Kimweli, was castrated for being a freedom fighter. The two live in their small hut in Katange Village.

All this might have happened 60 years ago but time has not wiped away the tears of the 85-year-old woman.

Mama Kimweli is among the Mau Mau veterans who have sued the UK government for the atrocities suffered during the colonial period.

Together with veterans Wambugu Nyingi, Paulo Nzili and Jane Muthoni, she left the country yesterday for London in the company of KHRC commissioner George Morara, to prepare for the second phase of their case which begins next week on Monday.

In the first phase of the case, the Royal High Court in London granted an application made by the elderly Kenyans to seek compensation for torture meted out by the British authorities in the 1950s and 1960s.

Historic wrong

In June 2009, Mrs Kimweli and her colleagues visited British Prime minister Gordon Brown and demanded that the UK government admit that what they did was wrong and inhuman.

“Sir, this is not a case about colonialism or politics. It is about a group of people who were tortured and who struggle to live with the consequences of that torture to this day. We seek recognition of the historic wrong which was done to us and an apology from the British Government,” the group told Mr Brown.

Speaking to the Nation at the KHRC headquarters in Nairobi, where the group had converged for prayers before their departure, Mama Kimweli said she still curses what she went through.

“The thought that my young ones might have been butchered disturbs me so much and whenever I see young ones playing, that thought recurs,” she said.

Mrs Kimweli hinted at a ploy by the UK to try and drag the cases with the hope that the elderly Kenyans who are in their sunset years will die. But she vowed to fight on to the end until the UK apologises and justice is done.