King Charles III landed in Kenya on Tuesday October 31, 2023. On his first official visit to Kenya as monarch, the king of the British gave a speech in which he acknowledged the past atrocities committed by Great Britain and its colonial legacy. He said there were ‘no excuses‘ for it, yet did not apologize! He told guests that “the wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret.” He recognized the “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans” in their struggle for statehood adding, “there can be no excuse.” Today, he held a private meeting with the family of Kenyan freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi murdered by the British colonial regime, and whose remains are still to be found to this day; the British High Commission said that the meeting was an “opportunity for the king to hear firsthand about the violence committed against Kenyans during their struggle for independence.” Are we supposed to clap for the king? Why does it have to be a private meeting? Kimathi no longer just belongs to his family, but to the whole of Kenya as he led the rebellion to liberate the whole country; thus whatever concerns him, concerns ALL Kenyans!
Are we surprised? NO… we are used to these useless kings and presidents of the former colonial powers parading in our countries with nothing to show for… walk and expect to be treated well by us, when they have not even given us the decency of burying our dead or returning the skulls of our ancestors, let alone recognize the genocides committed by their forces on our lands, or even the trauma caused, or even our lands confiscated, futures destroyed, and our resources to this day stolen away. (France Admits Murder of Algerians … A Step Forward?, In Madagascar, People remember one of the deadliest French colonial wars in history, French President Acknowledges French Genocide in Cameroon, Belgian King Expresses ‘Deepest Regrets’ for Colonial Past in Congo). It is just saddening that African leaders empty coffers for these parades.
Excerpts below are from the Washington Post.
=====
Speaking at a state banquet Tuesday, Charles hewed closely to the British government line, saying he felt “the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” for the wrongdoings of the past. He steered clear of any language that might open a broader conversation about reparations.
Nonetheless, Britain, like other former colonial powers, is in a period of reckoning, and the king has been under pressure to address the legacy of decades of British rule in East Africa.
…
Britain-Kenya relations at the “official level are very good,” said Nick Westcott, a professor of diplomacy at SOAS University of London and former director of the Royal African Society, but “that’s not to say there’s not some difficult issues that go back to the colonial period.”
… There have been calls for Charles to acknowledge, in particular, the violent suppression carried out by British authorities in Kenya during the early reign of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. In the 1950s, British officials responded to what was known as the Mau Mau revolt — a movement to reclaim land and independence — with a brutal crackdown on the broader population. Thousands were killed and significant numbers imprisoned and tortured…
African Heritage 
Why do we keep entertaining these former colonial bullies? Why do we waste our people’s money hosting these royal criminals? Don’t we have anything better to do?
LikeLike
Right?
LikeLike
Right? I am not sure… probably because we are ruled by puppets of the West who empty our coffers for their masters
LikeLike
Confirme
LikeLike
Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire
Adama douane
LikeLike
Merci beaucoup
LikeLike
This is ridiculous! He should offer a full apology and offer reparations for the stuff they did to the Kenyans under colonial rule.
LikeLike
He should… but as usual, he never did, and probably will not until Africans are strong enough economically
LikeLiked by 1 person
Right, and they need to build their economies and pressure the colonizers to pay up what’s rightfully theirs.
LikeLike
Not trying to outright defend him here – but apologising for slavery is a political matter and is something the British and Kenyan governments should discuss together. It’s not a matter for the King.
I suspect this is also the reason why the royals don’t do it. It would be deeply embarassing for them and for the UK as a nation if they went around begging for forgiveness while the ministers in Parliament went “Who cares about those african ****?! We have nothing to apologise for. We brought them civilisation…..”
If you want apologies take it up with the government. You won’t get it from the royals.
LikeLike
Thank you Jayanth for this clarification. It is a political matter indeed.
Was the king’s visit to Kenya a private one? I believe it was a state visit.
LikeLike
It was indeed a state visit, which is precisely my point. On state visits, he is only allowed to say and do what the two countries’ governments agree to let him say and do.
LikeLike