"“Kericho County wants UK to pay for colonial-era ills”"

Kericho county government has begun pursuing the British government to compensate members of the Kipsigis and Talai communities for land they allegedly lost due to forceful acquisition of land for tea plantations in colonial era. Kericho governor Paul Chepkwony said he had instructed the procurement department to engage a lawyer of international repute to pursue the matter…“It is my sincere hope that our case will also be successful because our people have really suffered in the last 100 years,” he said. 

The governor said experts will be used to carry out evaluations in order to determine how much the compensation should be. Chepkwony said evaluation will be carried out in land currently owned by multinational tea companies in Kericho County, which include Unilever, Williamson and Finlays amongst others. He said the county will also be seeking compensation of mesne profits, which are proceeds received by a tenant in wrongful possession of an estate, but are recoverable by the landlord. The governor said seeking compensation was proper because the Kipsigis and Talai communities had been impoverished, despite being owners of large tracts of land that continue to benefit others.