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16 Oct, 22 tweets, 4 min read

#HistoryKeThread Trophies Of War
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When the colonial government in Kenya in response to the Mau Mau insurgency declared a state of Emergency, Mervyn Cowie (pictured) was Kenya’s Director of National Parks.

Cowie offered the military from his team a significant number of rangers and professional trackers, arguing that they could far better than ordinary security forces track fighters hiding in the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya forests. The government took up the offer.

In the early stages of the Emergency, British Royal Air Force (RAF) jets bombed the forests. The authorities hoped the bombing would lead to mass surrenders or deaths of Mau Mau fighters.

Instead, the bombing led to other unintended consequences.

Cowie’s Parks department, for example, reported that wildlife - rhinos, elephants and buffaloes in particular - had become aggressive. Wildlife were agitated by the loud explosions and damage caused by RAF jets.

A similar observation was made by Ian Henderson, the police investigator responsible for the arrest of key Mau Mau leaders, and who was among the first officers to arrive at the scene after Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi was shot.

Writing in his book “Manhunt In Kenya”, Henderson (pictured) noted that two of his African assistants were fatally mauled by rogue buffaloes.

Indeed, there were many cases of herds of elephants raiding both settler and African farms adjoining the forests, leaving massive destruction in their wake.

Chief Muhoya, who was a prominent loyalist chief in central Kenya, remonstrated with the government, seeking compensation for damages and loss he suffered from rampaging wildlife on his farms. The government politely declined to compensate him.

Ironically, the Parks department - the same one that offered rangers and professional trackers to the military - accused troops involved in Mau Mau operations in the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya forests of being trigger happy, and for applying excessive firepower against the #MauMau.

Rangers dreaded carrying out patrols, as rhinos, buffaloes and elephants in the parks had become suddenly aggressive.

Henderson observed that after many months of bombing by the RAF, the animals were not only “extremely aggressive” but they also reacted violently to thunderstorms.

He also took sorry note of the fact that one of his African assistants was convinced that Dedan Kimathi had “oathed” game in the parks.

Meanwhile, colonial authorities also observed that both security forces and the Mau Mau were involved in poaching activities. Cowie made reference to this in his book, “Fly, Vulture”.

And if there were any doubts about Mau Mau’s involvement in poaching, these were dispelled by Mau Mau’s Field Marshal Mûthoni Kìrima (pictured).

Citing Mûthoni as his source, author David Njagî in his book, “The Last Mau Mau Field Marshals”, said a section of freedom fighters carried out poaching of ivory and other wildlife trophies while in the forests.

The freedom fighters stockpiled and hid them, hoping to profit from them after the war.

In 1964, Field Marshal Mûthoni and other Mau Mau leaders beseeched the post-independent government of Prime Minister Mzee Jomo Kenyatta to grant them access to the forests. They sought to retrieve their hidden stocks of ivory hidden there.

Mzee initially declined to grant the request but later acceded to it upon learning that Mûthoni and some of her counterparts had resorted to a hunger strike.

In a publication dubbed “1952-1963 and Beyond” (Limuru: Kolbe Press, 1991) it is reported that Muthoni and her colleagues would sell the ivory back to government, having been assisted by the likes of Charles Njonjo to secure transport means for the cargo.

The process of recovering the ivory was, according to Mûthoni, also aided by a certain Mr. Kimiti, an unnamed European, First Lady Mama Ngina and Jackson Madoka Shako (pictured, who was appointed Minister for Tourism and Wildlife in 1969).