Akamba community sues UK government over land injustices

The Akamba community from Kitui and Machakos counties has sued the UK government, demanding repatriation of Akamba artefacts, land restoration, restitution and a formal apology for colonial injustices. 

The case, which is spearheaded by Dr Augustus Kyalo Muli, the National Patron of the Anzauni Clan and Leader of the National Liberal Party, details a systematic campaign of dispossession by the British, who colonised Kenya between 1895 and 1963.  

The case filed at the UK High Court, King’s Bench Division, London, European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg in France and African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Arusha, Tanzania, accuses British authorities of seizing fertile lands and confiscating livestock, criminalising cultural heritage, including the brewing of 'kaluvu.'

The community also accuses the UK government of forced displacement into semi-arid regions, triggering a "subjection by starvation" policy, exploited labour, and forcing the community into servitude as soldiers and labourers. 

The court documents state that to date, the Akamba elders in Makueni live in makeshift structures along the metre-gauge railway line, a haunting reminder of ancestral lands lost decades ago. 

“The Akamba are like fish out of water. From leaders and masters of trade and industry, the Akamba have been forced to be servants and subjects. British colonial policy removed us from our natural environment, destroyed every means of income, and abandoned us in semi-arid reserves with no chance of survival except subjection," Dr Muli, who is acting on behalf of the Anzauni Clan with over 400,000 members and a coalition of 21 other Akamba clans representing over 5 million people across Kitui, Machakos, and Makueni counties argues.

"Today our community is used as vote baskets to help other communities win and lead because we no longer have the power or financial muscle to lead on our own. Kambas never wanted to be employed; the British forced us into employment by making it the only option after economic strangulation.”  

Muli has picked legal minds including the Leigh Day Solicitors, London, which acted for over 5,000 Mau Mau survivors seeking for an apology from the British Government and compensation to the victims of colonial era torture, Bosek & Co. Advocates, Kenya, which is also representing the Kipsigis and Talai at the European Court of Human Rights, France and Kenya Human Rights Commission, experts in pursuing for reparations. 

The case is anchored on the evidence of British District Commissioner reports, 1938 Hansard records of cattle confiscations, and over a century-old 5,048-acre Makueni ranch dispute rooted in colonial-era land acquisition pitting locals against sons of a former white-settler. 

The Akamba community demands a formal apology from the UK Parliament, land restitution, starting with 5,048 acres Salama, Makueni County where elders were evicted and left along railway line in Kiu without any food or shelter, 80 years after eviction they are still suffering, financial compensation for five million Akamba people.

It also claims cultural heritage which will involve removal of ceremonial artefacts or ancestral remains in UK institutions, a development fund for essential infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and water and relooking at spiritual practices among the Akamba people after criminalisation of "kithitu" (witchcraft) where in 1950s there were forced witch-cleansings of 1,000 Akamba people. 

"This is not misfortune; this is a historical crime," declared Muli.

He is calling on all 22 Akamba clans to unite, preserve family records, and stand as witnesses. The petitioner believes that although the legal path might be long, their goal remains clear; that of reclaiming the dignity and economic strength of the Akamba people.