History of Kenya
Mrs.
Nardi's 9th Grade World History Class
Lenox Memorial High School, Lenox, Massachusetts
Legacy of Mau Mau
Caroline Elkins, in her book Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britian's Gulag in Kenya, counted 56 recorded detention camps in her chart at the end of her book but there were many unrecorded camps opened by white settlers for their own purposes. Tens of thousands of detainees were abused in this fashion whether they were truly Mau Mau or simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. (The British system of justice was a summary one during this period.) In fact, the Mau Mau rebels killed 58 whites (32 according to Maathai) whereas the British killed 12,509 blacks during the Emergency and 1090 were hanged by the government (Anderson 7).
However, these are official estimates that have been recorded. Statistics vary a great deal between the two most recent authors Elkins and Anderson but as Elkins notes that without any accurate figures the census of ethnic groups indicate a drop in the Kikuyu population between the years 1948 and 1962. She goes on to explain that
If the Kikuyu population figure in 1962 is adjusted using growth rates comparable to the other Africans [ethnic groups in Kenya], we find that somewhere between 130,000 and 300,000 Kikuyu are unaccounted for (366).
Elkins summarizes the situation in Kenya's Central Province by saying that "There is no record of how many people died of torture, hard labor, sexual abuse, malnutrition and starvation. If the British did keep records of these deaths, they were destroyed long ago" (366)
In fact, the British Officals made of point of destroying the paper trail regarding their actions and plans for the State of Emergency in Kenya.
Even though the KLFA did not single-handedly rescue Kenya from British tyranny and oppression, without their efforts, the struggle for independence certainly would have dragged on much longer. Yet, the Mau Mau legacy receives little credit. Recognition of Mau Mau lay dormant while British colonial officials basked in undeserved glory and loyalists benefited from self-serving redistribution of power and land.
However, a
few remembrances can be found. In Nyeri, there is a home-made museum called
“The Nyeri Peace Museum” where memorabilia
has been gathered which reflects the ongoing issues hampering the healing
process. Anderson describes this make-shift memorial tenderly, saying
...there are
some old identity papers from the 1950s; tax receipts; loyalty
certificates; copies of documents declaring collective punishments
in Nyeri…an old typewriter, said to be the same as the one used
in the Aberdares by Kimathi’s scribe Njama,…There is even
a
tattered copy of Henderson’s book about Kimathi…
(Anderson 337-338)
Outside on the main highway into the town of Nyeri at the traffic island, there is an obelisk on a cement dais in memory of the lives lost during the Emergency. There used to be only loyalists listed on the monument but forest fighters have “repossessed the past” and “seizing this little symbolic space for themselves...[have made this monument for]…freedom fighters” (Anderson 337). However, the most notable remembrance may be that in “February on Kimathi Day…the anniversary of Dedan Kimathi’s execution…” KLFA gather to remember their hero.
New Statue of Dedan Kimathi
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Photograph from www.dcsarfaris.co.ke