Mr. Neil Wigan United Kingdom High Commissioner to Kenya, Neil Wigan, has cleared the air on whether King Charles III and Queen Camilla will use the occasion of their visit to Kenya to grant an apology to the country over the atrocities committed by their late grandfathers in the majority of the countries of the world, including Kenya during the colonial era.
Mr. Wigan disclosed that it would be extremely difficult to offer an apology for all the brutalities that occurred during the era of colonialism. He hinted that such an apology may lead the two countries into a fresh legal battle which will be too expensive for the United Kingdom. Mr. Neil, however, encouraged the two countries to build on their out-of-court resolution.
Speaking on the Spice FM radio, Mr. Wigan stated "An apology starts to take you into difficult legal territory so to say and the agreement we made was an out-of-court settlement so it showed our sincerity and openness about recognizing that abuses had been committed and that is the route that we chose and was accepted by the Mau Mau Veterans Association."
"We haven't made an apology really in any context, it is an extremely difficult thing to do. What we think we want to do is to acknowledge the difficult bits of history, talk about them openly both to affected countries and to individuals and communities," he stated.
"We choose the language carefully, we express deep regret we said it in parliament and in the most public way. We've engaged very closely with Mau Mau Veterans who are affected and we have paid compensation individually and also arranged for the monument which now sits in Uhuru Park. We've been very open about those difficult parts of our history," Mr. Wigan stated while speaking on how careful the United Kingdom had been in the choice of their languages for expressing what happened during the colonial era.
Mr. Wigan spoke to Kenyans on Spice FM ahead of the first official visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla to Kenya since the king was crowned.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be visiting Kenya from October 31 to November 3, 2023. Programs have been laid down to entertain the King and the Queen of England who have chosen Kenya in their tour to the commonwealth nations.
Category: World-News
Tag: Kenya UK King Charles III Queen Camilla
Written by Omooba Alekuwodo (omoobaalekuwodo)
Published 10/24/2023 4:19:09 PM