Lawyers campaigning to win more than £10-million compensation from the Ministry of Defence for hundreds of Kenyan women who say they were raped by British soldiers said yesterday that they would urgently investigate fresh allegations about the authenticity of some of the claims.
The head of a pressure group called Impact (the Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict), which is involved in the case, has admitted that he was only aware of three allegations of rape within the Masai community in Dol Dol in recent memory — yet more than 200 allegations have now been collected from the area since the arrival of British lawyers in 2000.
When given these allegations yesterday, Day told the Guardian: ”The issues you have raised are very serious indeed, and we will have to investigate them immediately.
”We have to be absolutely clear we are working with people we trust. Without that, the whole thing starts to fall apart.” But Day maintained that ”there has been an epidemic of rape in central Kenya”.
He predicted that more than 400 of the alleged victims would win around £30 000 in compensation from the MoD, following a civil action which is expected early next year.
Last week the British high commission in Nairobi said an investigation by British military police forensic science experts had concluded that all police records pertaining to the case were forgeries.
Medical records shown to the Guardian yesterday — including the outpatients register from Nanyuki district hospital — appeared to have had claims added later.
For example, the register for 1982 details six cases of rape, with four cases referring to attacks by soldiers appearing as the last entry on the page.
”I could absolutely see how forgery could happen with the hospital records. I can easily see that,” Day conceded. He admitted that at another hospital, a high incidence of rape entries also appeared at the bottom of the hospital register’s pages, which surprised him.
Simon Ole Kaparo, the manager of Impact, said: ”A lot of people have come here with medical records that they have bought for a few hundred shillings. We have turned them away.”
The case being pursued by Day is also supported by some 60 mixed-race children, born allegedly as a result of rape by British soldiers. On August 14, 40 of these children accompanied about 100 women to demonstrate outside the British high commission in Nairobi, alongside Day.
Rose, a 26-year-old prostitute from the coastal resort of Malindi, told the Guardian that she learned after the event that her children — both fathered by Italian tourists — and her mother had been demonstrating at the event.
Although a member of the Kikuyu ethnic group, her mother was seen in Masai dress. Rose said she had told her mother it had been wrong to attend, and later travelled to Dol Dol, where she met other rape claimants and was told that she would win money if she registered as a victim.
Ole Kaparo, whose agency is helping to take statements from the alleged victims, said: ”It would be very difficult to know if a mixed-race child is really [the product of rape].”
Most of the mixed-race children come from areas with a high prevalence of white farmers, western missionaries and tourists. In Dol Dol there are only three mixed-race children.
Ole Kaparo said: ”Of course there are a lot of missionaries and tourists, but if a woman comes with a mixed-race child and says she was raped by a British soldier, we listen to the story and we clearly believe she is genuine.”
Day also has disturbing testimonies from the alleged victims themselves. One, Jennifer Koinante, has described to the Guardian being gangraped by British soldiers.
”It made me stop my schooling. It’s something that’s been there for years,” she said, after describing the ordeal in detail.
Day began documenting rape allegations after a campaign for farmers killed or hurt by ordnance left on two British army firing ranges, in which the MoD paid £4,5-million in an out of court settlement, but did not admit responsibility.
With more than 200 women alleging attacks in Dol Dol, Masai leaders have said rapes by British soldiers are endemic. Yet Mr Ole Kaparo said he had heard of only three alleged rapes in the area until Day launched the claim on behalf of Dol Dol’s ordnance victims.
”It would be very difficult to know how many cases are true,” Ole Kaparo said. ”A lot of people saw from the munitions case that you can get justice from somewhere. The munitions showed that justice is money.” – Guardian Unlimited Â