Profiling Field Marshal Muthoni

[Onyango Oloo]

www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21575787-female-veteran-mau-mau-laments-new-order-historic-hair


Kenya
Historic hair
A female veteran of the Mau Mau laments the new order
Apr 6th 2013 | NYERI |From the print edition

Too soon for a trim

WHEN Muthoni wa Kirima learned of Kenya’s independence in 1963, she was still living in the forest. She had been there since the start of the Mau Mau uprising against the British colonial authority a decade earlier. No one had told her or her handful of ragged comrades that the fight was over. Most Mau Mau rebels had been bloodily suppressed by 1956. But a hard core had continued to battle on.

The only woman said to have been given the Mau Mau rank of field-marshal, she was invited to meet Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first post-independence leader. At first he thought she was joking when she said she had been in the forest all that time. But she convinced him by unfurling her dreadlocks that had been left to grow throughout her time in hiding.

Now 83 and living in a modest homestead in central Kenya, in the heartland of the Kikuyus who made up the Mau Mau, she says she is still waiting for the benefits of independence. Until she receives them, she refuses to trim her knotted hair, snow white at the roots but dark where it touches the floor. She calls it “the history of Kenya”. She was beaten and wounded by gunfire but never captured by the colonial Home Guard. The Mau Mau were defeated but their campaign marked the start of Britain’s retreat from its African colonies.

Like many of her fellow veterans, she has remained landless and poor since independence. Governments since then have not been much fairer, she says, than the colonial one. “There is no justice in Kenya.” When asked what she thinks of Jomo’s son Uhuru, now Kenya’s president-elect, she gives a suitably cryptic Kikuyu answer. “From the womb comes a warrior, a king, a rich man, a criminal and a killer.”

[mank]

OO,

Many thanks for posting this. About a couple of years ago I dug through the lit to acquaint myself with this dignified part of humanity, but the lit was too limited ... as it is for all these true dignitaries. The pictures I would find were old.

I wonder what her state of health is now, and how open she would be to a visit. I would definitely want to visit with her. Anybody with actionable connections, please provide a hand.

[mank]

Apr 19, 2013 15:47:32 GMT 3 Onyango Oloo said:

www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21575787-female-veteran-mau-mau-laments-new-order-historic-hair


Kenya
Historic hair
A female veteran of the Mau Mau laments the new order
Apr 6th 2013 | NYERI |From the print edition

Too soon for a trim

WHEN Muthoni wa Kirima learned of Kenya’s independence in 1963, she was still living in the forest. She had been there since the start of the Mau Mau uprising against the British colonial authority a decade earlier. No one had told her or her handful of ragged comrades that the fight was over. Most Mau Mau rebels had been bloodily suppressed by 1956. But a hard core had continued to battle on.

The only woman said to have been given the Mau Mau rank of field-marshal, she was invited to meet Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first post-independence leader. At first he thought she was joking when she said she had been in the forest all that time. But she convinced him by unfurling her dreadlocks that had been left to grow throughout her time in hiding.

Now 83 and living in a modest homestead in central Kenya, in the heartland of the Kikuyus who made up the Mau Mau, she says she is still waiting for the benefits of independence. Until she receives them, she refuses to trim her knotted hair, snow white at the roots but dark where it touches the floor. She calls it “the history of Kenya”. She was beaten and wounded by gunfire but never captured by the colonial Home Guard. The Mau Mau were defeated but their campaign marked the start of Britain’s retreat from its African colonies.

Like many of her fellow veterans, she has remained landless and poor since independence. Governments since then have not been much fairer, she says, than the colonial one. “There is no justice in Kenya.” When asked what she thinks of Jomo’s son Uhuru, now Kenya’s president-elect, she gives a suitably cryptic Kikuyu answer. “From the womb comes a warrior, a king, a rich man, a criminal and a killer.”

The story is wrong in several aspects! First, the Mau Mau were not defeated before independence! Let's correct that! Mau Mau was defeated only after it won independence. Kenya won independence primarily because of Mau Mau blood and sturbonness.

Second, the war was not over till independence was won. The calculated literature deceives people that Mau Mau war was over in 1956 ... heck! Why did Johnies come to Kenya in 1961? Why was there so much bombing in the eastern side of Mt. Kenya and the forests beyond in the same year, long after 1956?

In separate threads, I believe, I have given the connection. The truth is that many heroic events of the Mau Mau, and especially their toll on the British government, have been hidden from Kenyans so we can be convinced that, one, we became independent because the British wished so ... dung! Two, that we earned independence because we had learned people like Kenyatta negotiating for that independence ... even more dung! The truth and the real truth, the pillar of our independence is the Mau Mau. Anything else is of peripheral significance.

It is people like Field Marshal Muthoni that we should exalt for our emancipation. More than that, we owe them apologies innumerable, for the way we (through our government) have treated them.

[Deleted]

Mau Mau fighter, 90, passes on

Updated Tuesday, April 09 2013 at 00:07 GMT+3

Former Mau Mau fighter General M’Anampiu Gaita. (Photo:Standard)
By Patrick Muthuri

Meru, Kenya: A former Mau Mau General M’Anampiu Gaita fondly known as Muchori has passed away at the age of 90 years.

According to Meru Freedom Fighters Association Secretary Mr Leonard Murithi, the freedom fighter passed on over the weekend following a short illness.

In his condolence message, former Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara said Muchori’s death serves as a reminder to the nation to meaningfully honour freedom fighters.

“I wish to send my condolences to the family of the great Mau Mau hero and freedom fighter General Muchori. His passing on should serve to remind us as a nation of our obligation to our freedom fighters and the need to honour them and their families in a meaningful way,” stated Imanyara.

Murithi said Muchori was last week admitted at Cottolengo Mission Hospital-Chaaria last week before being discharged and passed on at his home on Saturday.

“The Late General Muchori was among the first people to take up arms against colonialists in 1952. The Government should come in and support the family of the late hero at this hour of need,” Murithi said.

The Late General Muchori was credited for enlisting renowned freedom fighters like the late Field Marshall Mwariama and Late General Baimungi into the Mau Mau.

www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000081181&story_title=Mau-Mau-fighter,-90,-passes-on

[nereah]

there is something about this identity,this persona...this sister......something about this female veteran as the economist calls her that arouses my spirit.

let labi siffre say the rest for me:

[mank]

Apr 20, 2013 4:50:49 GMT 3 @kathurekebaara41 said:

Mau Mau fighter, 90, passes on

Updated Tuesday, April 09 2013 at 00:07 GMT+3

Former Mau Mau fighter General M’Anampiu Gaita. (Photo:Standard)
By Patrick Muthuri

Meru, Kenya: A former Mau Mau General M’Anampiu Gaita fondly known as Muchori has passed away at the age of 90 years.

According to Meru Freedom Fighters Association Secretary Mr Leonard Murithi, the freedom fighter passed on over the weekend following a short illness.

In his condolence message, former Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara said Muchori’s death serves as a reminder to the nation to meaningfully honour freedom fighters.

“I wish to send my condolences to the family of the great Mau Mau hero and freedom fighter General Muchori. His passing on should serve to remind us as a nation of our obligation to our freedom fighters and the need to honour them and their families in a meaningful way,” stated Imanyara.

Murithi said Muchori was last week admitted at Cottolengo Mission Hospital-Chaaria last week before being discharged and passed on at his home on Saturday.

“The Late General Muchori was among the first people to take up arms against colonialists in 1952. The Government should come in and support the family of the late hero at this hour of need,” Murithi said.

The Late General Muchori was credited for enlisting renowned freedom fighters like the late Field Marshall Mwariama and Late General Baimungi into the Mau Mau.

www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000081181&story_title=Mau-Mau-fighter,-90,-passes-on

On Dec 12 1963 Mau Mau fighters dropped into Rũrĩng'ũ stadium in drones, to celebrate "what we fought for" (in FM Mwariama's words). Those who did had utmost confidence in the independence they had won, and were confident that Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, "calmer of nations" (my translation of FM Mwariama's words) would lead the nation according to the values they sought. They were confident that Kenyatta represented them at the elm of leadership.

Field Marshal Mwariama had all the confidence in his "leader" - he had enough reason to be confident! He had been in touch with mzee even in his captivity, even taking general guidance from the man as to when Mau Mau should hold their truce or go it as they deemed.

There were others who either distrusted the declaration of Uhuru, or saw the deception of Uhuru, from a far. These did not turn up at Rũrĩng'ũ. General Baimungĩ's battalion was actually leaving the Nyeri area as others were coming in. Many of these never left the forests.

Kenyatta even got to pose for pictures with the Mau Mau, and particularly with the Field Marshal Mwariama, the foremost in Mau Mau command at the time .... (the society has apparently conspired to hide these people and their place in history, even never telling a story of the faces in those pictures whenever they flash them about! - how ironic that in "The Making of a Nation" Hillary Ng'weno has a brief snap of Field Marshal Mwariama with Kenyatta, but the story is all about Kenyatta ... the Mau Mau are reflected up in passing, just as a footnote in what the documentary seems to consider the force in the making of a nation - it nauceates me to go down this line of thought.)

Then the men were treated to several days of feasting. Bulls were slaughtered, and people dined. When the feast was over, then the government-Mau Mau brotherhood was also over. The Mau Mau were sent to IDP camps while the ngati walked into plum jobs of GK. From IDP camps Mau Mau fighters would find there way into the reality of the times, and into individual "sufferation", till this! Death in isolation.

I don't know how we are supposed to take the wishes of wellness for the dying generals from politicians who have for ages been satisfied with the misery of the Mau Mau generals and said nothing. I don't take it well myself.

=========
I find it very curious how the Economist story claims Kenyatta thought the Field Marshal was joking when she said she had been in the forest all along. Kenyatta was in touch with the Mau Mau in the forests, exchanging notes with the leaders. According to Mwariama the Mau Mau was ready to break into the Maralal camp where Kenyatta was held, but Kenyatta told them to stay put. Kenyatta sent a number of people (who would later be in his cabinet) to meet with the Mau Mau leadership in the forests ahead of independence. Why then would he be surprised to hear one of the fighters say that she was coming straight from the forest? Besides, didn't Kenyatta on independence day receive arm's from people that were unquestionably coming from the forests where he had sent assurances of the big day?