It's unfair to point all our daggers at the monarch - Senator Olekina on King Charles visit

Olekina believes that confronting the monarch in light of the historical colonial past will only cause the country to regress in its efforts to advance and forge closer bilateral relations with the British.

He stated that while the compensation dilemma must be addressed, the focus of the discussion should also shift to creating new covenants that will help Kenya.

"The most important thing for us to say is how can we benefit and I want to reiterate the fact that we have issues of foreigners owning huge chunks of land in Laikipia yet our people should start benefitting," he said.

"We should have this conversation but is it fair to point all our daggers at the monarch when it's coming? No. Mind you the British monarchy holds this country in very high esteem."

In an interview on Tuesday's Daybreak programme on Citizen TV, the lawmaker stated that Kenya ought to capitalise on King Charles's visit and establish new alliances for the country's future generations.

He maintained that since Queen Elizabeth II, Charles's mother, was more sympathetic to the horrors Kenyans endured during colonial rule, the fight for redress ought to have been fierce during her reign.

"Let us be realistic and say when he (Charles) was growing up when the mother was queen, maybe we should have asked and demanded a lot," said Olekina.

"The issue is can we build our relations, extend our relations, I think King Charles is a fair gentleman he'll be able to come and see and they will have that conversation." 

This occurs as Queen Camilla and King Charles III embark on a state visit to Kenya, which is being hailed as a chance to look forward and strengthen the close ties between London and Nairobi.

The 74-year-old British head of state is making his first trip to an African or Commonwealth country since taking the throne in September of last year following the passing of his mother, who had a record-breaking 70-year reign.

It also comes almost exactly four decades since Elizabeth's own state visit in November 1983.

In 2013, Britain agreed to compensate more than 5,000 Kenyans who had suffered abuse during the Mau Mau revolt, in a deal worth nearly 20 million pounds (Ksh. 3.7 billion).

Most of the affected veterans have still expressed dissatisfaction with the compensation.

At least 10,000 people, mainly from the Kikuyu tribe, were killed during British rule in Kenya.

Tens of thousands more were rounded up and detained without trial in camps where reports of executions, torture, and vicious beatings were common.