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The woman fighter who came out of the forest strongest and a warrior of great respect was Field Marshal Muthoni (Kirima). She was one of the “Last Mau Mau” who laid down their arms at the flag of free Kenya at Ruringu Stadium in 1963.
Today Field Marshal Muthoni is a Councillor of Nyeri County Council. She asks of the present: "What do people think about us? Do they think that we were insane by spending all those years in the forest and fighting a heavily armed enemy? Do they know that we knew it was more comfortable to stay at home, eat at home and sleep in a house? "
She then sheds tears when she reflects on how the Last Mau Mau were treated after Independence. She dries more tears with her white handkerchief as she says: “My heart pains, perhaps because I am a woman, when I see some people with so much wealth and power, not because they have worked harder than me or they have better heads. They behave so recklessly just because they found the path having been cleared for them. And they don’t look back to see who took the risk.”
“That is why I told (President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta): 'Before you die you better leave the Mau Mau with a foundation, leave them standing firm for you understand best the part they played '. But now it appears like he was afraid of the Home Guards because he did not do what I asked him to do. The Home Guards came with all the money and bought out the land. Instead of being told to wait for land why were we not told to go back and look for money?”
“I say this because we shed our blood for land and the freedom of our people. But this appears to have been overlooked. The original plans were abandoned in a scuttle when some people realised that they did not have a single, living forest freedom fighter at Independence. That was when it was decided that we be cast away and perhaps perish.”
“This was done without realising that some people, some who were castrating our men, had amassed money and were in a position to buy land easier than those who spent their time fighting in the forest. When we were fighting for freedom these people were fighting for slavery – and up to this day they continue calling us ‘taka taka’ (rubbish).”
“One day I was addressing the Provincial Commissioner and the District Commissioner at Nyeri. I was asking them to convey my message to the President that on every Independence Day we be allowed to hold a ceremony up the Mount Kenya. The ceremony would be like this: some houses would be built on the mountain with some old good men living there. We would go there in a procession and hold prayers for the good of the country. Then we would proceed down the mountain and go across to Nyandarua Mountain, pray there, and that would be all. That would be a very good ceremony to remember Independence and bless the country. But no action was taken.”
“Because of all what has happened I tell people that it was better to live with animals … actually in the forest animals were friendly and would not hurt us. For example, I would wake up and a snake would creep to where I was sleeping and curl up because of my body heat. Lions, we would play with them like cats. All animals would not hurt us because they had become used to us and our scent was that of the jungle. But today human beings are behaving like they are wildlife.”
“At one time during the war one of our men was blinded by a bomb. His head was so badly torn that you could see the inside of the head. Some people in my group suggested that we take him to the roadside so that the colonial forces would find him and take him away. I opposed this, convincing them that by doing so would be a sign of defeat.”
“God helped the man. He was healed but he could not regain his eyesight. This man now leads an ordinary, simple life.”
“I spend most of my time today praying for Kenya to have justice, peace, and prosperity.”
The Last Mau Mau: Kenya’s Freedom Heroes or Villains?
David Njagi, 1991
Good read @Bhai
This betrayal of the Maumau set the country on a wrong path on day 1. It has given birth to many many more subsequent betrayals. Today we experience betrayal after betrayal with no end in sight. When that Jicho Pevu guy and other pigs went to watch FIFA WorldCup in Russia at the taxpayers expense nilijua hakuna hope.
Sometimes you have to wonder whether all these problems we go through mega corruption scandals one after the other, ethnic violence and lawlessness can be traced to the original sin while forming the republic.
definetly.kwa bibilia inasema kama baba yangu alikuwa anawakamua dry fry,mimi nitawakamua hadi kwa mkia bila lube.uhuru na wengine wanafanya exactly hivyo.ile pesa na mashamba babake aliiba wacha tu…lazima TJRC report iwe implemented kama tunataka amani na maendeleo.
Grandpa alikaa 14 years in detention.
Grandma alikaa 8 years.
I don’t know how my parent(s) went through this but somehow they survived.
Hizi stories huwa nomare sana. How walikuwa wanarushwa kwa train wanapelekwa mahali whatnot and some other gore stuff…
I hope karma is real. Pia hawa wazungu must get a dose of their own medicine. I hope to witness it in my lifetime.
Are your grandparents still alive? If so can you please buy them a voice recorder which they can narrate their experiences in detention? One day we gonna make a blockbuster movie and we’ll need as many first hand witnesses as possible.
Grandma and Grandpa are R.I.P.
Goriest part of the story was come ‘independence’. When mzungu decided to ferk off. They were all dumped into trains. Wakashukishwa Dagoretti Station, just like that endeni mjipange.
The first slum in KE was in Dago/Karen. Soo jobs watatoa wapi ili wasupport their families ?? Karen
They had to work for some of the same people who had enslaved them and taken their land!!!
The damage that hawa wazungu did to some families… Wacha tu
I can only imagine…sad. My grandpa was detained for years at a prison in Coast province (I’m blanking on the name). Yes, bazungus did some bad things but you understand they were on a conquering mission for the British empire.
The meffiest people of all are the Judas homeguards. All political families in Kenya, the Kenyattas, Mois, Odingas, Nyachae, Mudavadi etc have done nothing else but enrich themselves and minions greatly at our expense. You would think someone with your skin color, who looks like you would be kind and understanding? Wrong.
