Death of British Monarch Stirs Complex Feelings in Former Colonies

Mathenge Wa Iregi, 90, former Mau Mau fighter in Kenya

Africa News

The death of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, brought back complex feelings to all those who were once part of the British empire.

In Kenya, once a British colony, memories are still raw.

Mathenge is a former Mau Mau fighter who fought the British troops. He explained why he is not grieving for the Queen.

"I myself, as a freedom fighter, I would not celebrate or mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II. I would mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II if she stopped the British people from coming here to fight the Mau Mau because those people - they took our land", said Mathenge Wa Iregi. 

Many freedom fighters, such as Mathenge, were imprisoned and tortured by the British. He spent three years imprisoned in terrible conditions, saying he had "a very bad life" in prison.

"I was imprisoned for three years and I had a very bad life there in prison, because I stayed naked for about the months of June and July when Kenya is very cold, and where I slept on a floor with torn material and it was very cold. I was not only myself in that room. We were several people over there, prisoners I would say, because at that time, I don't say we were people, we were imprisoned. And some of them got ill, some people they died" said the former Mau Mau fighter.

Kenya became independent in 1963 after years of violent struggle between a liberation movement and colonial troops.

Queen Elizabeth's reign saw the hard-won independence of African countries, along with a string of Caribbean islands and nations along the edge of the Arabian Peninsula.