A case against the British government over the crimes soldiers committed during the Nandi Resistance will start late November.
The Nandi community will be represented in London by a British law firm headed by lawyer Karim Khan, who represented Deputy President William Ruto at the ICC.
The law firm won a tender placed in the local dailies and is now collecting evidence and maps to prove the case.
Nandi Governor Cleophas Lagat said the county has the blessings of the assembly, which approved Sh108 million legal fees.
He spoke in Nandi Hills grounds on the eve of Mashujaa Day celebrations yesterday. Lagat attended a ceremony to mark 111 years since the killing of legendary Nandi leader Koitalel arap Samoei in 1905.
He said the Nandi community demands unequivocal apology from the British government and compensation for the killing of more than 10,000 people, forcible transfer of residents and rape.
“We have several authorities at our disposal, including the indigenous people of Australia – the Aborigines
– and the
Mau Mau cases among others,” the governor said. Lagat said a team of
legal experts will hold public hearings in Nandi Hills to ensure that the case is watertight.
During the October 19, 1905 incident in which Koitalel was murdered at a peace meeting in Nandi Hills, more than 1.5 million head of cattle were stolen. The local community was also evicted.
The British soldiers forced out the community from its rich agricultural land to grow cash crops, such as tea, coffee and sugarcane. Lagat said to date, thousands of people still live as squatters on reserved land along the hills and in rocky areas.
