05/10/2023
Kenyan leaders have the annoying tendency to neglect the patriots when they area alive and zealous pretence when they die.
When I saw the report that freedom fighter Mukami Kimathi, the wife of freedom fighter Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi has passed on, I knew that our political leaders who are joker's will fall over each other in their empty promises! I saw how they treated freedom fighter Bildad Kaggia, whose only " crime " was to demand land rights for the thousands of Mau Mau fighters who were dispossessed of their land. He was a nationalist and a patriot who joined freedom fighter Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in demanding for Mau Mau land rights. In response he was publicly humiliated when Jomo Kenyatta upbraided him and asked him what he has acquired compared to the other detainees. For Kenyatta independence meant acquiring properties and wealth. For Kaggia, independence meant justice.
I remember with nostolgia the intellectual spurring between Prof. Ngugi wa Thiongo, Prof. Maina wa Kinyatti against Prof. William Ochieng and Bethuel Ogot on the " success " and " status" of Mau Mau fighters. To Ngugi and Maina the Mau Mau was the glorious peak of our struggle. To William and Bethuel, the Mau Mau was just a tribal ragtag group that was defeated in the war.
There are so many patriots who fought against the invading colonialists. They include those in the freedom fighters like Koitakel arao Samoei in Nandi rebellion, Gusii rebellion, Mekatilili wa Menza and Gariama rebellion and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and the luo in his fight, Dini ya Msambwa in Western and the African independence Churches in Mt Kenya region.
The Mau Mau just like the other freedom fighters were deliberately dispossessed. They were dispossessed during the land consolidation.
It's really hard to understand what the Mau Mau went through in the forest. I got a feel of it when I went for a training at Tabor Hill in Nyandarua recently. The cold made me get some additional blankets. I wondered how the freedom fighters survived the cold of Aberdares ranges and Mt.Kenya. I also wondered how they survived the wild animals and the hunger and thirst in the forest!
I remember my grandfathe who participated in the second world war talking to me proudly in a smattering of English. I was told that my late mother was one of the spies for Mau Mau. Yet I do not shout from the rooftops that I am Mtoto wa Mau Mau!
I participated in the second liberation struggle and breathed in the chocking tyrants teargass and braved the painful GSU rungu and kicks and accompanying abuses. So I can vaguely relate to the freedom fighters.
I remember vividly that how we lobbied for the burial site of Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi to be identified so that his remains can be exhumed for a decent burial. Up-to-date the British government has refused to point out the place!
I really wonder if today we have freedom- fighters-materials. Most of the people we have are driven by their stomachs. They lack ideology or principles.
Fare there well shujaa Muthoni Kimathi!
