Kenyans urged to spend British payments wisely
Source: Agencies |
July 5, 2013, Friday
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AS some 5,200 Kenyans wait to get paid by Britain for colonial-era acts of torture, herdsmen from Kenya's Samburu and Maasai tribes who once benefited from similar payments have some advice: Don't squander the money like we did.
Some of the herdsmen embraced polygamy, others bought new cars they did not know how to drive. Eleven years later, the Kenyan tribesmen compensated by Britain as the victims of explosives left behind by British soldiers in training say they regret their failure to spend the cash responsibly.
"I cannot calculate the amount of money I spent on alcohol," said Kipise Lourolkeek, 53, a Maasai elder who as a young herdsman in the 1970s was injured by an exploding object that he picked up in the plains.
In August 2002 Lourolkeek was one of more than 220 victims of British ordnance who won an out-of-court settlement from the British government of about US$6.9 million. Lourolkeek, who was blinded in the left eye and had an arm shattered in the blast, got more than US$211,000, a huge sum of money in a country where most live on less that US$2 a day.
Lourolkeek married a third wife, bought three new cars, 210 cattle, 60 acres of land and 300 goats. Now almost all that wealth is gone, squandered in part through his frequent trips to the bar. In the two-bedroom shack he shares with some of his 13 children, he is now urging the next beneficiaries to "live humbly."
More than 70 percent of the people compensated for their injuries squandered the money, said Peter Kilesi, a legal officer who helped build the case against the British army.
But the victims of British abuses who won compensation last month will not get nearly as much as Lourolkeek was awarded 11 years ago. The settlement will pay about US$21.5 million to the 5,200 Kenyans who were found to have been tortured, or about US$4,100 per Kenyan victim.
Britain announced last month that it "sincerely regrets" the torture carried out by the colonial government as it tried to suppress the "Mau Mau" rebellions. Many of the now-elderly Mau Mau victims say they were beaten badly and sexually abused by British colonial officers in the 1950s and 1960s.
Some of the herdsmen embraced polygamy, others bought new cars they did not know how to drive. Eleven years later, the Kenyan tribesmen compensated by Britain as the victims of explosives left behind by British soldiers in training say they regret their failure to spend the cash responsibly.
"I cannot calculate the amount of money I spent on alcohol," said Kipise Lourolkeek, 53, a Maasai elder who as a young herdsman in the 1970s was injured by an exploding object that he picked up in the plains.
In August 2002 Lourolkeek was one of more than 220 victims of British ordnance who won an out-of-court settlement from the British government of about US$6.9 million. Lourolkeek, who was blinded in the left eye and had an arm shattered in the blast, got more than US$211,000, a huge sum of money in a country where most live on less that US$2 a day.
Lourolkeek married a third wife, bought three new cars, 210 cattle, 60 acres of land and 300 goats. Now almost all that wealth is gone, squandered in part through his frequent trips to the bar. In the two-bedroom shack he shares with some of his 13 children, he is now urging the next beneficiaries to "live humbly."
More than 70 percent of the people compensated for their injuries squandered the money, said Peter Kilesi, a legal officer who helped build the case against the British army.
But the victims of British abuses who won compensation last month will not get nearly as much as Lourolkeek was awarded 11 years ago. The settlement will pay about US$21.5 million to the 5,200 Kenyans who were found to have been tortured, or about US$4,100 per Kenyan victim.
Britain announced last month that it "sincerely regrets" the torture carried out by the colonial government as it tried to suppress the "Mau Mau" rebellions. Many of the now-elderly Mau Mau victims say they were beaten badly and sexually abused by British colonial officers in the 1950s and 1960s.
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