Last Friday, British High Commissioner to Kenya, Neil Wigan announced the formal handover of digital archives from the colonial era kept in the British archives, dating from 1907 to 1968.
“They consist of 2,658 files, over 300,000 images, taking five hard drives and almost 10 terabytes of data,” Wigan said at the National Museum of Kenya (NMK), where President Ruto led celebrations on the inscription of the Gedi Ruins in Kilifi county onto the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) list of World Heritage Sites.
The archives as announced by the envoy include files from the Ministry of Internal Security, the Office of the Governor, and other colonial government institutions.
Further, they included files documenting the Mau Mau period, intelligence reports and summaries of African political parties, associations, and leaders.
So we’re handing over some of the most sensitive files on the most sensitive issues on the most sensitive times.
“Besides handing over the files, we’re also handing over the technology, a server, software, and laptops to the Kenyan National Archives, so that Kenyan researchers and historians can use these archives to tell Kenya’s history properly,” Wigan said, adding that the gesture is part of the British government’s commitment to be as open as possible about the shared history. This, he said, includes the two countries’ darkest moments.
“We aim to engage and to listen and to build our ties with communities impacted by colonial rule,” he summarised his statement.
Last month, Wigan revealed he handed over medals to 20 Kenyan veterans of the Second World War. “We’re doing this because we believe that to focus on the future, we need to address our past in this open way,” he said.
