British abuse and torture in Kenya's counter-insurgency, 1952–1960

Abstract

Accusations of abuse and torture in the counter-insurgency campaign against Mau Mau rebels in Kenya were widely publicised during the 1950s. The typical British response was to issue official denials, and when prosecutions did arise the perpetrators were characterised as pathological, their behaviour presented as isolated and exceptional. New evidence found in the British colonial ‘Migrated Archive’ for Kenya now confirms that the practice of torture and abuse was widespread, amounting to a systematic pattern of state policy. This article rejects dispositional and individual explanations of British torture in Kenya and instead examines the violence in temporal and structural terms, showing how the toleration of violence at an early stage of the Emergency led to its institutionalisation in Kenya's detention camps at a later stage. The article offers evidence from the screening process in the first phase of the counter-insurgency campaign, and from the ‘dilution technique’ applied in the detention camps after 1956 in the final phase of the war to illustrate the argument. The concluding discussion explores the dilemmas confronting Kenya's colonial violence workers and their political masters as they struggled to present torture as lying within the ‘rule of law’.

Keywords:

• torture
• abuse
• Kenya
• counter-insurgency
• British colonialism
• Mau Mau

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Jacob Wiebel, Julianne Weis, and Aidan Russell who assisted with the documentary research on which this article is based, and to Sam Wilkins for editorial work and background research.

Notes

 1. Anderson, ‘Mau Mau in the High Court’.

 2. Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem.

 3. Milgram, Obedience to Authority; Conroy, Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People; Bandura, ‘Moral Disengagement’; Chandler, Voices from S-21.

 4. Clayton, Counter-Insurgency, 44–5.

 5. Bennett, ‘The British Army and Controlling Barbarisation’; Anderson, ‘A Very British Massacre’. For other related accounts, see Anderson, ‘Surrogates of the State’; Percox, ‘British Counter-Insurgency’; and Bennett, ‘The Other Side of COIN’.

 6. Simpson, ‘Texts of Torture’. For another discussion of this point, see Anderson and Lochery, ‘Violence and Exodus’, 371.

 7. Huggins et al., Violence Workers, 137.

 8. Hatzfeld, A Time for Machetes.

 9. This phase is the principal focus of Elkins, Britain's Gulag, and her discussion of the development and operation of the ‘pipeline’.

10. Branch, Defeating Mau Mau, 50.

11. Branch, Defeating Mau Mau, 50, 82.

12. For other accounts of screenings, see Elkins, Britain's Gulag, 62–90.

13. For the full case papers and related documents, see United Kingdom National Archives [UKNA], CO 822/499.

14. For the case papers, see Kenya National Archive [KNA] MLA 1/626, KNA MLA 1/709, KNA MLA 1/900. Only in one of these cases did the two accused hang, in all the others a Governor's pardon being issued.

15. For a fuller discussion of the judiciary, see Anderson, Histories of the Hanged, passim.

16. ‘Judgment’, Criminal Appeals 988 and 989 of 1954, from Emergency Assize Criminal Case No. 584 of 1954 of the Supreme Court of Kenya at Nairobi, KNA MLA 1/1098. The proof of this torture emerged incidentally within the evidence produced in the case, and was not the subject of the charge in the original court hearing.

17. Hanslope Disclosure [HD], ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 27.

18. HD, Chair, Chief Secretary's Complaints Co-ordinating Committee to the PC Rift Valley, 30 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 25.

19. HD, ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 27–33.

20. HD, ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 27–33, 33.

21. HD, ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 27–33, 36–7.

22. HD, ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 27–33, 34.

23. HD, ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 27–33, 35.

24. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Rift Valley to Chair, Chief Secretary's Complaints Co-ordinating Committee, 11 November 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 9.

25. HD, ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 35. The officer eventually resigned when he was confronted with the complaints brought against him, but no legal action was taken: see HD, Provincial Commissioner Rift Valley to Chair, Chief Secretary's Complaints Co-ordinating Committee, 12 October 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 20.

26. HD, ‘Hopcraft Report’, 10 September 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 31.

27. HD, Swann to Chief Secretary's Complaints Co-ordinating Committee, 12 October 1954, AA 45-26-2A, vol 1 Box 135, 20.

28. HD, Wisden to Chief Secretary, 19 October 1953, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 123–6.

29. HD, Frost to Chief Native Commissioner, 27 October 1953, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 120.

30. HD, ‘Report’, Onesimus Waitara and Elizaphan Machaga (nd), AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 46.

31. HD, Circular by R.G.Turnbull, 25 October 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 14.

32. UKNA, Erskine to Secretary of State for War, 10 December 1953, WO 32/15834.

33. HD, Correspondence from Governor, 20–23 March 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 58–60.

34. HD, Minute by Baring, cited by Private Secretary, 13 April 1954, AA 45-26-2A Vol. 1 Box 135, 51.

35. For the papers of the Chief Secretary's Complaints Co-ordinating Committee, see HD, CAB 19/4 Vol I Box 207, and HD, CAB 19/4 Vol II Box 207.

36. HD, ‘Glenday Report’, AA 45-26-2-2 Box 136, 2.

37. HD, ‘Glenday Report’, AA 45-26-2-2 Box 136, 2

38. HD, ‘Glenday Report’, AA 45-26-2-2 Box 136, 2, 9.

39. HD, ‘Glenday Report’, AA 45-26-2-2 Box 136, 2, 3.

40. HD, ‘Glenday Report’, AA 45-26-2-2 Box 136, 2 Quotation marks in the original.

41. HD, ‘Glenday Report’, AA 45-26-2-2 Box 136, 2, 3.

42. Elkins, Britain's Gulag, 319–32. The key documents cited here are: UKNA, Cusack to Secretary of State, ‘Detention Camps – Progress Report No. 34’, 12 December 1956, CO/822/802/148; UKNA, Eric Griffiths-Jones, ‘‘Dilution’ Detention Camps – Use of Force in Enforcing Discipline’, June 1957, CO 822/1251/E/1; and a Memorandum authored by John Cowan and then in his personal keeping, ‘The Mwea Camps and Hola’, no date.

43. Gavaghan, Of Lions and Dung Beetles; Gavaghan, Corridors of Wire.

44. The key communications are Telegram No. 53, in UKNA, CO 822/1251/7 and Telegram No. 597 in UKNA, CO 822/1251/8.

45. HD, Resident Magistrate, Nyeri, ‘Criminal Case no. 203 of 1959, Judgment’, 23 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 224. The account of the incident here is constructed from the judicial verdict passed by this magistrate and the AG's report of the previous CID investigation.

46. HD, District Officer in Charge of Rehabilitation, Mwea Special Camps, to Secretary for African Affairs, 23 September 1958, AA 57A Vol. VIII, 61–2. See also HD, AA 57/21/2A, entire file.

47. HD, Attorney General, Summary of CID Report, ‘Death of Kabugi Njuma at Aguthi Works Camp’, 7 January 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 103–5: 103. The full CID report is not in the file. It was later claimed that the full report contained far more details and stories that encouraged the prosecution of Samuel Githu, but that the government kept these details out of court. See HD, Minister for African Affairs to Solicitor General, 11 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 265, and following correspondence, 261–3.

48. HD, Attorney General, Summary of CID Report, ‘Death of Kabugi Njuma at Aguthi Works Camp’, 7 January 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 103–5.

49. HD, Resident Magistrate, Nyeri, ‘Judgment’, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 246; HD, Attorney General to CID, ‘Death of Kabugi’, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 103–5: 103.

50. HD, Attorney General to CID, ‘Death of Kabugi’, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 103–5: 103.

51. HD, Attorney General to CID, ‘Death of Kabugi’, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 103–5.

52. HD, Chief Secretary's Complaints Co-ordinating Committee Minutes, Case 980, 1 January 1959, CAB 19/4 Vol. II Box 207, 20–1.

53. HD, Chief Secretary's Complaints Co-ordinating Committee Minutes, Case 980, 1 January 1959, CAB 19/4 Vol. II Box 207, 20–1

54. HD, Resident Magistrate, Nyeri, ‘Judgment’, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 234.

55. HD, Resident Magistrate, Nyeri, ‘Judgment’, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 234, 238.

56. HD, S.J. Oakley, ‘Death Report Details’, 16 September 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 41, also 127. The submission of the Report to CID was a standard procedure, so that the police could close any files they might have on the deceased (HD, Governor to Secretary of State, 25 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 35–6).

57. HD, E.J. Carthew, Resident Magistrate Nyeri, ‘Inquest No. 19/58’, 19 September 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 42–3: 43.

58. HD, E.J. Carthew, Resident Magistrate Nyeri, ‘Inquest No. 19/58’, 19 September 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 42–3: 43, 42.

59. There are several missing documents on this file, e.g., Savingram No. 1677 of 25 September 1958, according to the reply sent one month later. See, HD, Governor to Secretary of State, 25 October 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 44.

60. There are several missing documents on this file, e.g., Savingram No. 1677 of 25 September 1958, according to the reply sent one month later. See, HD, Governor to Secretary of State, 25 October 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 44

61. HD, Detainees to Secretary of State, ‘Hue and Cry from Aguthi Detainees’, 10 October 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 192–7.

62. HD, Governor to Secretary of State, 5 November 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 45. Again, the initial communication (Savingram 1814 of 28 October) is missing from the file.

63. HD, Attorney General to Governor, ‘Death of Kabugi Son of Njuma at Aguthi Camp’, 8 January 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, 99–102.

64. Calculated from HD, CAB 19/4 Vol I and Vol II, Box 207. These cases will be the subject of a separate article now in preparation.

65. Hansard, Parliamentary Debate, ‘Prisons and Detention Camps, Kenya’, Reginald Paget MP, 24 February 1959, paras 1025–6.

66. HD, Resident Magistrate O'Connor, ‘In the Resident Magistrate's Court at Nyeri, Criminal Case No. 203 of 1959, Regine versus Samwel Mugo son of Githu: Judgment’, 23 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 241. The second page of this judgment is missing from the file.

67. HD, Resident Magistrate O'Connor, ‘In the Resident Magistrate's Court at Nyeri, Criminal Case No. 203 of 1959, Regine versus Samwel Mugo son of Githu: Judgment’, 23 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 241. The second page of this judgment is missing from the file, 246.

68. HD, Resident Magistrate O'Connor, ‘In the Resident Magistrate's Court at Nyeri, Criminal Case No. 203 of 1959, Regine versus Samwel Mugo son of Githu: Judgment’, 23 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 241. The second page of this judgment is missing from the file, 244. The Governor later wrote to the Secretary of State to give details of this assault, ‘in case it is suggested that the Kenya Government was at fault in continuing to employ him as a Rehabilitation Assistant after such a conviction’, which had taken place on a villager in Fort Hall District who had been out after curfew. HD, Governor to Secretary of State, 25 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 34–6.

69. HD, Resident Magistrate O'Connor, ‘Judgment’, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 224–47: 245–6.

70. HD, Minister for Defence to Minister for African Affairs, 14 November 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I, 154.

71. HD, Cowan, ‘Report on Aguthi Works Camp’, 14 November 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I, 155–8.

72. HD, Minister for Defence, ‘Note for File’, meeting between Minister for African Affairs, Minister for Defence, Under Secretary for Defence, Commissioner of Prisons, Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Cowan and Garland, 17 November 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I, 150. On the development of the Mwea technique, see Elkins, Britain's Gulag, 319–27.

73. HD, Minister for African Affairs to Minister for Defence, 18 November 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I, 149.

74. HD, Acting Attorney General to Minister for African Affairs, 21 November 1958, AA 57/21A Vol. I, 142.

75. HD, Permanent Secretary to Minister for African Affairs, 11 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 266.

76. HD, Solicitor General to Minister for African Affairs, 18 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 254.

77. HD, Solicitor General to Minister for African Affairs, 18 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 254 See also, HD, Solicitor General, ‘Opinion on the Use of Force in Prisons and Detention Camps’, 10 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 255–9.

78. Regarding the two alterations of ‘broken’ and ‘break’, it is important to reflect on the Solicitor General's legal opinion on the use of force provided to the defence, which specifies that an officer ‘must never use force to break a prisoner's will to resist’. See HD, Solicitor General, ‘Opinion on the Use of Force in Prisons and Detention Camps’, 10 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 255–9.

79. HD, Acting Provincial Commissioner Central to Permanent Secretary African Affairs, ‘Samuel Mugo Githu, GM, District Assistant’, 9 March 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 269–72.

80. HD, Permanent Secretary to Minister for African Affairs, 11 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 266.

81. HD, Gavaghan to Provincial Commissioner Nyeri, 27 April 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 220–1.

82. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Central to Minister for African Affairs, 1 May 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 209–16: 209. This lengthy letter, although extensively quoted here, is relevant in its entirety.

83. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Central to Minister for African Affairs, 1 May 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 209–16: 209. This lengthy letter, although extensively quoted here, is relevant in its entirety, 211.

84. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Central to Minister for African Affairs, 1 May 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 209–16: 209. This lengthy letter, although extensively quoted here, is relevant in its entirety, 212.

85. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Central to Minister for African Affairs, 1 May 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 209–16: 209. This lengthy letter, although extensively quoted here, is relevant in its entirety, 213.

86. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Central to Minister for African Affairs, 1 May 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 209–16: 209. This lengthy letter, although extensively quoted here, is relevant in its entirety

87. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Central to Minister for African Affairs, 1 May 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 209–16: 209. This lengthy letter, although extensively quoted here, is relevant in its entirety, 214–15.

88. HD, Provincial Commissioner, Central to Minister for African Affairs, 1 May 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 209–16: 209. This lengthy letter, although extensively quoted here, is relevant in its entirety A further letter of objection was sent by Humphrey Slade to the Governor's Private Secretary, HD, 27 July 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 78.

89. HD, Attorney General, Draft telegram to Secretary of State (not sent), n.d. (December 1958), AA 57/21A Vol. I Box 164, ff. 52–5.

90. Hansard, Parliamentary Debate, ‘Hola Detention Camp’, Barbara Castle MP, 16 June 1959, paras 304–7.

91. HD, Governor to Secretary of State, 14 July 1959, AA 57/21A Vol. II Box 164, 9.

92. Clayton, Counter-Insurgency, 56–8.

93. Elkins, Britain's Gulag, 344–52.

94. Huggins et al., Violence Workers, 2.

95. For 1950s' human rights debates, see Simpson, Human Rights and the End of Empire.

96. Simpson, ‘The Texts of Torture’, 210.

97. Huggins et al., Violence Workers, passim.