United Kingdom hands over colonial-era archives and artifacts

British High Commissioner to Kenya Neil Wigan and Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Singoei address a past press conference. [File, Standard]

Kenyans will now have opportunity to interact more with their colonial history after the United Kingdom relinquished artifacts concealed during their colonial rule in the country.   

According to the UK government, the historical materials handed over to the Kenyan government on Friday 13, include digitised archived records dating between 1907 and 1968.

Among the 2,658 files and over 300,000 images contained in the archives, the British High Commission to Kenya said, are papers containing information on the Mau Mau insurgency, records of collective punishment and detainees.

In the documents, the Commission said, Kenyans  will also be able to obtain the Kenya constitutional discussions of 1961, files dealing with external affairs and intelligence dossiers of prominent personalities such as Jomo Kenyatta, Paul Ngei, Oginga Odinga, Bernard Mate, Daniel Arap Moi, Masinde Muliro, Joseph Murumbi, Tom Mboya and Joseph Nyagah, among others.

While handing over the items, British High Commissioner to Kenya Neil Wigan noted the move will facilitate Kenyans in better understanding and telling their history. 

“These archives, spanning 1907 to 1968 are a window into our shared history, meaning Kenyans can better tell their own story and offering an opportunity for reflection and understanding,” he said. 

The handing over took place during the celebration of the inscription of the Gedi national monument as a Unesco world heritage site.

Stolen artifacts by the UK government have been a sticking point for decades, including cultural treasures, sacred objects and human remains such as the Nyeri skulls, the Gikuyu drums and the Maasai ancestral relics.

The calls for repatriation of the artifacts to Kenya cast a dark cloud over King Charles III visit to the country in November last year, in a string of demands including compensation for Mau Mau victims.