Thread by @historykenya101

Scores of Kenyans gave life,limb & liberty to ensure that we attained the ability to govern ourselves.

Some of these heroes have been forgotten in the sands of time but we must never let them be forgotten.

Here are a few Shujaas. Happy Mashujaa day to them.

***THREAD***

CMG Argwings-Kodhek (1923-1969)

CMG attended St Mary’s School, Yala, Makerere and Cardiff Univ where he obtained a Law degree and got admitted to the bar (Lincoln's Inn) in 1951.

Offered a third of what whites were getting at the Attorney General's office, CMG declined.

He started his own law firm at Church House and was the only African in Kenya with a law firm.

He made his name defending Mau Mau cases — saving many, including Waruru Kanja, and 48 Lari Massacre accused, from the hangman’s noose.

In 1963, President Kenyatta appointed Argwings-Kodhek an assistant minister for Defence.

In 1966, he joined the Cabinet as the Minister of Natural Resources and eventually in 1967 as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

He died in a road accident in 1969.

Pio Gama Pinto (1927 – 1965)

As a journalist, Pinto was rounded up in Operation Anvil and spent 4 years in detention on Manda Island and a year confined at Kabarnet.

In 1964 he was involved in establishing the Lumumba Institute in 1964 which later came to haunt him...

The Lumumba Institute was funded by the Russians and had a board consisting of Kaggia, Ngei, Murumbi, Kungu wa Karumba and Oneko. The title of the Ruaraka land was in Jaramogi's name, then a trustee.

It was later closed & is today part of PAC Uni.

Pinto used to tell his wife that his salary was half what he earned and gave out the rest to the poor.

Pinto fought for a better lifestyle for poor Kenyans.

He was assassinated in 1965 and the govt accused Kisilu Mutua of the murder. mutua was released in 2001.

Kungu Karumba (1904-1974) was a nationalist, freedom-fighter and part of the Kapenguria 6 arrested in 1952 for involvement with the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (aka Mau Mau)

After independence, Karumba who wanted to be a DC was turned down by Kenyatta and went into business.

Karumba formed a trucking company and went into textiles.

It was while he was in Uganda collecting a Sh19K debt from an Army officer's wife in June 1974 that it is alleged, he was killed by the officer and his body disappeared in the notorious Mabira Forest.

Kurito ole Kisio (1917-1954) was a Maasai KLFA general who was killed in Narok, Kenya, in 1954.

According to chronicler Karari Njama, ole Kisio was the fourth most powerful KLFA general with an army of about 800 fighters operating from Melili Forest
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurito_ol…

“His valour would later see his then pregnant wife, Miriam Enekurito, become the first person to be arrested for collusion with the Mau Mau. She was tortured until Kisio was killed in 1954” -Shiraz Durrani

Mau Mau and its Legacy of Resistance to Colonialism and Imperialism.

Joseph Zuzarte Murumbi (1911 – 1990) was Kenya's second VP and played a key role in securing legal counsel for the detainees arrested. Together with Pio Gama Pinto, he resisted the continuance of British Imperial dominion in Kenya.

Ramogi Achieng Oneko (1920–2007) was a Kenyan freedom fighter and a politician. Tall and elegant, he was nicknamed Nyakech Oluoro Chuodho(The-Gazelle-Who-Loathes-The-Mud).He was part of the Kapenguria 6 & in the first Cabinet as Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

Faith Wanjru Wachira, 90, one of countless women who fed and hid KLFA fighters now lives on a 50-by-100-feet plot in the populous Kakuret village in Kieni, Nyeri with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
standardmedia.co.ke/amp/kenya/arti…

To date hundreds of landless villagers, many of them independence war heroes and heroines, are still ‘squatting’ at Kakuret where the white DO’s truck dumped them soon after independence.

They had been evicted from former settler lands in 1963.

General Kubu Kubu (Njagi wa Ikutha) was a freedom fighter from Embu.

Kubu Kubu died in 1955, burned alive by the colonialists after he was betrayed by a local informant.

He successfully repulsed settler encroachment on Embu for over 10 years before he was captured.

Muthoni wa Kirima (born 1931), the highest ranking female in the KLFA, was one of 4 Field Marshals, including Kimathi, Baimungi Marete, & Mwariama

Kimathi named her Weaver Bird for her strategies and was one of those that trekked to Ethiopia to fetch weapons for the struggle.

Stanley Mathenge wa Mirugi (b. 1919) disappeared in Ethiopia in 1955 during an arms sourcing mission (or was murdered by Kimathi). He had fought in Burma in WWII and turned down a rank in the KLFA.

He was respected for his bravery and proficiency with the .303 rifle.

In 2003, Kenyan journalist Joseph Karimi broke the story of Mathenge being found in Addis.

The Kibaki govt then flew Ethiopia farmer Lemma Ayanu into Kenya. He later confessed that he wasn't Mathenge & needed to get back for planting season....😂
news24.com/News24/Rebel-b…

Field Marshal Baimungi M’Marete wa M’Ikandi (1924 - 1965) was Kimathi's deputy and took over leadership after Kimathi was hanged in 1957.

Baimungi was a soldier in WWII and learned how to make guns during the war, a skill that he applied to great effect in arming the KLFA.

After independence in 1963, Baimungi and his men left the forest and were received at Kinoru Stadium by Mbiyu Koinange and Jackson Angaine.

There were however some misgivings within the KLFA as the Kenyatta govt aimed to sideline the freedom fighters.
qz.com/africa/1802135…

On Dec 18, 1963, Kenyatta invited Baimungi to his Gatundu home where he gave him a pistol, a Land Rover (KFF 660), 7 national flags and promised him land in Timau.

Baimungi gave Kenyatta a rhino whip and went to wait to be given land as promised by the President.

Photo of Timau

When the land was not forthcoming, Baimungi moved to Nkando ya Nkoma Forest.

In January 1965, he was killed by government agents, their bodies displayed in public for 3 days, buried in a mass grave and the KLFA was proscribed and banned by the govt.

Baimungi's family says that efforts by their late mother Evangeline Muthoni, who died in 2014, to reach the late Kenyatta and Moi, proved futile. In May 2005, she was arrested when she tried to gain access into Parliament to air her grievances.

Bildad Mwaganu Kaggia (1921 – 2005) was a leading leftist of the colonial period; probably the strategic planner on Mau Mau's central committee; notably anti-racist; and uncompromisingly committed to the poor.

After independence he fought for the rights of the landless.

Quoted in February 2000:

"The way things are in Kenya... we got independence because Kenyatta colluded with the colonial government. He suppressed us, all those who were with him, and I'm the only one who is still alive. He tried to kill me on seven different occasions."

Finally, KLFA probably had between 50 to 100 generals including:

Itina Itheri
Kahiu Itina
Njata Kagiri
Kago Mboko
Ole Ngaviani
Kimbo Mutuku
Mohammed Kinuu
Gikonyo Kanyungu
Hituchi Kabutu alias Kariba
Muriuki Kamotho alias Tanganyika
Gitau wa Ng’ang’a alias Matenjagwo

Others included (note the names...)
Salim Mugira
Gititi Kabutu alias Kareba
Gathia Gachiri alias Kabiu
Mubia Mang’ongi alias Jericho
Mutonyi Nguyo alias Waihenya
Gacheru Gathogo alias Gathaka
M’Murungi M’Kobia alias Kanyanga
Jacinta Kabika Mwariama alias Nkobia

The govt and the people who matter might have forgotten these heroes, but let's not make the same mistakes. Let's always remember them and their families. We owe them for the sacrifice they made.

Happy Mashujaa day to them all and to their families.