Hidden Truths: Unveiling the Records the British Empire Kept in the Shadows

In 2009, five Kenyan individuals presented a petition at the British Prime Minister's office, alleging human rights violations they endured during the 1950s under British colonial rule in Kenya. Their demand for reparations was based on their vivid personal accounts and physical scars from those traumatic experiences. However, their testimonies were initially undermined due to the lack of documentary evidence supporting claims of British-sanctioned torture against Kenyans, at least not until then.

Unbeknownst to the public, thousands of secret files were concealed, waiting to be discovered. In 2010, a historian joined the trial as an expert witness and revealed references to missing documents. It was noted that Kenya had repeatedly requested the return of stolen papers, which the British government had refused. Suspicion grew among historians that there were gaps in the archives, leading the court to order the release of any relevant documents. Subsequently, British officials acknowledged the existence of 1,500 pertinent files held in a high-security archive. However, it became evident that these files were just a small fraction of the documents hidden by Britain between the 1950s and 1970s, as part of a comprehensive colonial British policy known as "Operation Legacy." This policy aimed to destroy or remove documentation that could incriminate Britain and prove strategically valuable to new governments in former colonies. British colonial officers were instructed to destroy, alter, or secretly transport these papers to the UK. Some documents were meant to be burned or sunk far from shore in weighted crates.

Between 2010 and 2013, an independent historian located over 20,000 previously hidden Operation Legacy files from 37 former colonies. Additionally, an estimated 1.2 million colonial files, covering vast distances in the archive's "Special Collections," were exposed. However, the full extent of the documents that were destroyed, as well as the information they contained, remains unknown. Around 3.5 tons of colonial documents were slated for incineration in Kenya.

Operation Legacy's primary objective was to obscure critical truths, reflecting the sentiment expressed by Britain's attorney-general in Kenya, "If we are going to sin, we must sin quietly." The historical reality of what transpired in Kenya was much darker than the benevolent image British colonialism had claimed, with forced removals from traditional lands, exploitation of forced labor, implementation of reservations for Indigenous Africans, and restrictions on movement. The resistance from the Kenyan people began as early as 1895 and grew increasingly organized over time. One such movement, the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, sought to remove white settlers and overthrow the colonial government.

When the British declared a state of emergency in 1952, they granted themselves permission to use otherwise illegal special measures to regain control. The recently revealed Operation Legacy documents confirmed the appalling abuses suffered by individuals suspected of participating in the resistance. Between 1952 and 1959, over 80,000 people were imprisoned without trial, more than 1,000 were sentenced to death as terrorists, and extreme surveillance and interrogation tactics were employed. The victims endured brutal beatings, sexual violations, castration, shackling, and even the killing of children. Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua testified about being castrated while handcuffed and blindfolded, while Wambugu Wa Nyingi recounted being suspended upside-down, beaten, and suffocated with water. Jane Muthoni Mara described enduring sexual violation with a hot bottle and unjust imprisonment for years.

In response to the new evidence brought forth by the Operation Legacy documents, the British government issued a formal apology and reached an out-of-court financial settlement with the 5,228 Kenyan claimants involved in the case. The original five claimants had made history by shedding light on these atrocities and paved the way for a rightful rewriting of history. The documents that came to light challenge the fundamental myths of British colonialism as a benevolent institution, instead confirming the harsh realities that many people experienced and survived, rescuing history from the ashes of concealment.