Everybody has skeletons in their closets. Everybody!!! I am talking about those dark little secrets that one would never dare tell.
So to be fair to one Njenga Karume, it is a wonderful thing that he has made the brave (and rare in Africa) move to write a biography. There is no doubt that he has gotten an excellent ghostwriter and probably the best book editor that money can buy to bring out a very well written book. Perhaps the best written biography ever in these shores. Not bad for a man who hardly got any formal education to speak of.
What this man has done should be encouraged as much as possible amongst other Kenyans and indeed Africans across the continent.
Having said that, it is also worth noting that Njenga Karume is one of the most controversial Kenyans still around who has straddled the twin arenas of big business and big politics for a very long time indeed. The man knows a lot and I dare add has also done a lot, both good and bad.
Although he was not a member proper, of Kenyatta’s inner kitchen cabinet, Karume knows enough to shed much more light on some of Kenya’s big mysteries, like the murders of Tom Mboya and JM Kariuki. Not to mention the disappearance without trace of one Kungu Karumba. I am not surprised that he has steered clear of some of these very sensitive topics. After all some of the chief murderers who participated in these crimes are still very much alive. And besides even where they have passed on, those murders have helped retain the status quo and a system that has helped Mr Karume rake in billions over the years.
Still I have to admit that there were quite a number of shocks for me in the Karume book. For instance everybody knew that the man had access to President Jomo Kenyatta but I was surprised at the ease with which the man could just pick up the phone and talk or leave a message for a president who would disappear from the public for weeks on end and would regularly slip in and out of comas. Indeed Mr Karume’s honesty in many instances is very refreshing and will make this biography a hot seller for many years to come.
I went to school with one of Njenga Karume’s sons (he was a couple of years ahead of me) and one incident stands out in my mind that illustrated just how wealthy the man was especially in those days (early 80s). The younger Karume was pretty popular in school and everybody knew that it was his dad’s wealth and influence that had gotten him to the national school and not his academic prowess. But what he lacked in academics he more than made up for on the social scene. This chap would “borrow” his dad’s cars and paint the town red with his friends and girls from Kenya High School. One day he was involved in an accident that badly damaged the Mercedes Benz car he was using. The young lad was terrified of his dad and could not dare bring back the badly dented car and so it was towed away to some garage where the repair bill proved to be too high even for the crazy pocket money the young Karume used to receive. And so it was stuck there for quite some time. It took Njenga Karume months to realize that one of his personal cars was missing.
One of the things that has been left out of the Njenga Karume biography is his extremely dodgy beginning where it is said that some of the activities he got involved in in the early days to raise capital for his businesses was stealing car tyres.
Secondly although Karume’s ability to use his political contacts to profit hugely on the business front comes out very clearly in the book, one curious deal made possible by then Finance Minister Mwai Kibaki is missing from the book.
Mwai Kibaki leaked out a small part of his budget proposals a few days earlier which he knew would greatly profit Mr Karume. The price of beer was set to rise by 10 cents (roughly the equivalent of Kshs 2 today). I have to admit that there are many businessmen who would have gotten this same information and done very little if anything with it, but not Mr Karume. The man started working his phones and through his beer distribution business, placed a colossal and unprecedented order for beers. In those days he had a huge depot for storing the stuff so storage was not a problem. Naturally the huge order was being paid for at the “old prices” that is minus the 10 cents. Mr Karume then postponed making any deliveries for a day or two (another name for that is hoarding) until after the budget was read. The result was that he made a fortune from this insider trading transaction. Karume and Kibaki have remained friends for years except that brief moment prior to the 2002 presidential elections when Karume’s business empire faced some serious cash flow problems and he ditched Kibaki and the party he (Karume) himself had formed and financed to back Uhuru Kenyatta for the presidency. To his dismay he ended up with the losing horse but was quickly back in Mwai Kibaki’s fold shortly after Narc started crumbling. The two men have too many secrets they share to remain separated for long.
Read this previous Kumekucha article on a dirty deal that Njenga Karume executed.
Kumekucha Chris will be back this weekend with his controversial Weekend special. This time he digs into the dirty secrets of the presidency. Don't miss it. Cancel all your weekend dates stay away from the beaches if you must, at the very least make adjustments... he promises you will NOT regret it. This Saturday and Sunday only here in Kumekucha.
from the beginning, i knew Chris wanted to squeeze Kibaki somewhere. thats how predictable kumekucha is.
ReplyDeletenice read though the story about his son and the merc seems out of place and the reader is left wondering why it was included in the first place.
No body would like to wash his dirty linen in public. congl.Mr Njega for your story .I wish chris would write his.
ReplyDeleteActually, Karume has done extremely well as a businessman bearing in mind that for 25 years under Moi's dictatorship and hatred of Kikuyus, this guy actually flourished silently even more.
ReplyDeleteI hope when he passes on his wealth will not be squandered like it's so common among the black Africans, unlike the Asians. Karume is also a very generous man having sunk millions and millions of his own cash in various projects throughout Kiambaa constituency, ask anyone from Banana Hill areas!
I was once having lunch at his Kentmere Club in Tigoni (prices are reasonable) with a buddy when he popped from nowhere and paid all the bills for every person!
My quick investigations show that Karume owns the new Landmark Plaza in Upper Hill, Cianda House in Koinange St, Jacaranda and Pizza Garden in Westlands, the whole of Runda Mimosa, Kentmere Club, several beach hotels at the coast, prime plots in city like Cianda Market near tusker bus station, thousands of hectares of land and coffee plantations, buildings and hotels in South Africa and London, and the whole of Kiambu town, etc etc.
I have no doubt that this guy is easily the second richest Kenyan after the Moi family. This is despite having never been inside any classroom which he said was his biggest regret. Was it not for Karume bankrolling the DP party, Kibaki would not be snoring in statehouse today!
Having said that, let me add that Njenga Karume's lowest and greediest moment was selling 1,000 hectares of wasteland in Molo to the Govt to resettle IDPs at very-very-highly inflated prices! That, ladies and gents, was rather sad and shameful!
Who is Kumekucha Chris to write his biography? I am but a humble servant of the people who seeks no big office or big name for himself but only a better Kenya for my grand children and great grand children and Kenyans yet unborn.
ReplyDeleteKumekucha
M-Pesa,
ReplyDeleteOne of Njenga Karume's greatest assets is also his greatest weakness. The man is a big gambler and a few times it has paid off big for him but at other times he has lost out big time.
There are many instances where his huge business empire has been seriously threatened as a result of his gambles going wrong. At the time he sold that land to the government, the man had very serious cash flow problems. He had to survive at all costs.
Njenga Karume thrived during the Moi era in the same way he thrived during the colonial times. By doing a lot of kissing of you know what. That is why the story of his vehicles voluntarily carrying arms for the Mau Mau rings untrue. When Kenyatta came to power it was necessary for many of the collaborators and lovers of white settlers who surrounded Kenyatta to "re-write their past" and include some involvement in the freedom struggle. The truth is that there was no armed struggle to speak of. Although the Mau mau rebellion which was quickly dealt with helped some important people re-think their views on the Kenyan colony.
Kumekucha.
Chris said about MauMau;
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that there was no armed struggle to speak of.
Chris,by insulting the graves of the brave young men and women who paid the ultimate price for Kenya's independence, i can assure you that you will be cursed.
Who are you to say that? and you dare call yourself a servant of the people my foot???
A 'man' whose only courage is bearing the keyboard spear??
Wewe ni bure kabisa and this is my last visit to this bogus blog!!!!!!!!!!!
Anon @ 2:39 AM,
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be one of the folks determined to re-write history.
The Mau mau NEVER fought for independence. They fought for their grabbed land. Period. And history tells us that their rebellion of the 50s failed.
Kumekucha
Chris,
ReplyDeleteIf you don't know enough about the Mau Mau freedom struggle educate yourself before you make such an ignorant one-sentence summary of a heroic period in the history of African liberation struggle, and Kikuyu contribution in particular. The price paid by the peasants in the Mt. Kenya region was enormous in terms of destruction of material and human life. In some villages around Aberdare Mts it was not unusual to find 1/2 of males taken to detention in far off lands, while a 1/3 of the remainder would lose their lives in te forests. So, don't trivialize an important chapter in our history. At least, don't sound like a homeguard for heavens sake.
njenga karume was given a contract to supply transformers to KPLC (under another moi-era thief called samuel gichuru) in exchange for supporting moi/kanu.
ReplyDeleteBottomline: njenga karume made MOST of his money through crooked means & political patronage not hard work.
Chris is sounding like the Luo Prof called William Ochieng' of Maseno Univ who made a career of dismissing the Mau Mau as a tribal revolt. Well, Ochieng was made a Prof. by Wazungus in the Dept of History in the UoN in the 1970s. What is Chris getting by joining this chorus of self-hating Africans?
ReplyDeleteChris, you have also left out a fact that Kungu Karumba was his business associate and was allegedly in Uganda for a business trip that the two organised.
ReplyDeleteMwananichi aka Karume has had his own share of tribulations. The first wife died and Imagine with all the cash, one of the daughters has, I dont know what stage it is in, but a terminal cancer that has been managed at the University of California Hospital, one of the best.
The other son, I think the one you are talking about is a total wreck. Wreck slightly above tramp. I have through one of the family's associates been in contact with them and I cannot judge him, but he is simply different. I would have separated the son from the dad. I think that is a policy that walks the middle ground.
You might not know it, but the demise of one of the big dailies in the country is connected to Matiba-Kibaki-Karume axis and the KBL support for one of the two.
But, one should also remember that Karume getting the sole KBL distributorship was down to his association with the GEMA/KIAMBU Mafia. It is a Mafia that even Moi could not fight and clear. Look at the Mbo-1-Kamiti and the activities of the Kiambu Mafia come out clear.
To me, it is a story of hardwork, connections and shrewdness through association. "Okay, he is illiterate. Lets have him distribute beers, cigarettes and operate shops around. Let him sell charcoal and we support him through the means that we have." That is what the elitist Njonjos, Kibakis, Matibas and Kenyattas could have said of this unfortunate man in their midst.
Anyway, he has achieved what some of others will never.
-Derek-
MPESA, the guy's property cannot be accounted for in cash terms. They defy human definition (in mine and your terms). It will take me and you a week to enumerate cash that goes into the accounts and more than a million shillings and hour.
ReplyDeleteImagine, recently, the Grand Coalition were meeting at the Holiday Inn!
Castle plant on Thika Road was built on a plot he sold to those guys, paid upfront, despite the debacle it was.
If you compare what he has and Mudavadi's Chase Bank, your head spins.
-Derek-
I hate to say this because it always goes into Chris' and Taabu's heads.
ReplyDeleteBut where else can you get this kind of information and open discussion on topical issues (when the tribal maniacs are not exposing their ugly butts)?
I guess that is why so many folks leave Kumekucha tanga tanga all over the place and then come right back.
Chris said...
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 2:39 AM,
You seem to be one of the folks determined to re-write history.
The Mau mau NEVER fought for independence. They fought for their grabbed land. Period. And history tells us that their rebellion of the 50s failed.
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Bwana Chris, don't try this now.
What was colonialism about? Was it not about privatising land/natural resources of the weak people?
Mark you and this is unknown by many, this privatisation of land/commons started in England and Scotland. Once all the land has been enclosed in England and Scotland, they moved to other continents.
And, if so, how do u separate the question of land and independence?
Can you tell us how many millions of £ UK spent to quash Mau Mau?
And, if you know the figure, which we doubt you know, would the UK have spent such a colossal sum of money if the rebellion was not serious?
There is alot to learn from Njenga Karume, if we do not focus on empty criticism. First and foremost, although political setup later favoured him, he laid the foundation at the hardest time when it was indeed for Africans to survive, let alone do business-the colonial times.He even says that he got an Asian sounding name for the first wholesale he opened in Nairobi just as a way of tricking the Asians and the Whites as to the real owners, so that they'd operate in peace.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, unlike the majority of illiterate people who believe they are to be led and cannot transform their lives, this guy had no limitations or victims mentality. Just go to the upcountry in Kenya and speak to most wazees of his level of education. If you dare pass an idea, the answer they give back is that you are the one who should try that, since you are the educated one.
Thirdly, this is a guy who had some element of creativity and thinking, not just following the beaten path, at times with very original ideas and transforming ideas. For example, I did not realy think it was he who first coined the idea of the Democratic Party, but thought he was brought onboard by Kibaki as a buddie and financier. Further, I never thought he could be the one who dared say, before the 1991 KANU delegates meeting, to the mighty Moi, that it was advisable multiparty politics be allowed, and Moi proceeded to ask the vote. In a way, he played part in making Kenya a multi party state.
Njenga Karume is no angel, and he has his shortcomings. The same with me and you. However, there are some good lessons we can learn from the old gentleman.
Maumau was a tribal outfit that fought for land.
ReplyDeleteThe British conscripted many Africans to fight the second world war for them around the world. At this time, most Africans believed that mzungus were gods, or had magical powers. But when they went to the fighting fields and fought together with Wazungus, most Africans were shocked to see the glorified Wazungus suffering pain and dying, just like them. They concluded that a mzungu was no better than an African, could be fought and could die, just like them. The survivors of the 2nd World War (of various tribes and nationalities) came back to Africa with renewed confidence to fight the the white man to gain independence. And that is how the independence movement began.
The maumau movement played a part in Independence, but it was the greater united movement of all kenyans/ Africans from all corners of the world that secured independence. The role of maumau has been greatly overplayed, especially in this Kibaki era.
Chris is very right. Mau Mau was simply a small scale village fight over a few acres of land.
ReplyDeleteThe wave of independence was sweeping all over Africa. The British left because they wanted to, not because they could not withstand the poisonous arrows of the Mau Mau. After all, only a few white folks were killed. I think maybe ten.
No offence to Mungiki but those tobacco snuffing idiots had nothing to do with independence.
Kumekucha idiots have a way of thinking that never fails to amaze. Apparently we now have the White Man to thank for our independence, and not thousands of those who took to the forest with pangas and home-made guns. Forget about Kimathi, he was just having a picnic in the Abaderes. Forget that the Mau Mau movement inspired other struggles for freedom all across the world including informing the thinking of American Black leaders such as Malcolm X. Jeez, shouldn't some topics be off limit to bigotry? Why on earth would any Kenyan, actually any African, be hateful towards people who took up arms against a common enemy?
ReplyDeleteIt is said that when, in 1953, the Mau Mau uprising was covered across the world's media newsreels showing dreadlocked forest fighters defying the white man, Jamaican Rastafarians adopted dreadlocks as a symbol of brotherhood in the fight against racial injustice.
ReplyDeleteThe symbolism of long hair and dreadlocks has a long and complicated history, which I won't try to explain here.
As far as I know, in Kenya many peoples traditionally considered long hair to be a symbol of transition, for example as worn by Maasai and Samburu junior warriors. Long hair was also mentioned in Luo and Luhya stories in connection with rebirth, in that people in those stories got lost on Lake Nyanza (Victoria), during which their hair grew long, and when they finally arrived ashore, the foreign people who took them in and adopted them saw these people as being akin to spirits. Hair was also a symbol of unmarried bachelor status, of the past, of wildness, and of spirits and violence. Important oaths between the Kikuyu and Dorobo reportedly took place through the exchange of hair to end feuds or seal friendships. Louis Leakey reported that a Kikuyu and Dorobo would shave hair from their heads, affix it to stools with honey, and then sit on one another's stools to bind their friendship.
Ritual oathing was a crucial component of Mau Mau participation, as they called on the old God - Ngai - to witness the oath that people would swear to be united in their fight against the colonial enemy, and would take back the land that the white man had stolen. Jacob Njangi, a former fighter, explained:
"We used to drink the oath. We swore we would not let white men rule us forever. We would fight them even down to our last man, so that man could live in freedom."
The oaths were a cultural symbol of the solidarity that bound Kikuyu men, women and children together in their opposition to the colonial government. But they were also feared, as the taboos that traditionally surrounded the breaking of oaths were still very much current. Those who took the Mau Mau oaths were taught that their violation would be instantly lethal, and in practise it was indeed so: not because of the wrath of Ngai, but because of bloody reprisals by the Mau Mau themselves, for whom refusing to take the oath was the same as siding with the colonial regime.
Nonetheless, the British were scared by the oath, for they knew full well that for the Kikuyu (or any other Kenyan, in fact), an oath was a deadly serious matter, and could never be broken. As a result, the British made taking the Mau Mau oath a capital offence. Between 1953 and 1956 more than 1,000 Africans were publicly hanged for alleged Mau Mau crimes - in Britain, public hangings had been outlawed for over a century.
The British also screened Mau Mau suspects and forced them to take a 'cleansing oath', a strange instance of colonialism 'gone native'. Concocted by the anthropologist Louis Leakey and rich Kikuyu landowners who stood to lose their British-granted privileges if independence came to be, the Kikuyu were to swear upon githathi (sacred stones) for a reversal of the Mau Mau oath.
Many, of course, refused, so alternative means had to be found to 'convince' people to abandon their oaths. John Nottingham, a district officer in the colonial service from 1952 to 1961, explains, "The way that it found was that if you beat them up enough then they would confess an oath. So what you do is beat them up and then you give them a bit of paper and a piece of blunt pencil and say, 'Confess! I took it! I took it! I took it!' You are now a human being again."
Ironically, this was probably the first time that any of the suspects had ever been called 'human beings' by the wazungu.
Chris,
ReplyDeletememoirs of former ministers and high ranking gok officals have to be cleared by the secutity services. Happens everywhere. So you are not about to hear of mboya and kariuki from karume.
Let us not allow ethnic feelings to cloud our judgement of history. Mau Mau did indeed inspire liberation movements across Africa and the Black diaspora. It is a fact that the Algerian war of independence was inspired by Mau Mau. The Black civil rights movements in the United States also drew inspiration from Mau Mau because, for the first time in over a hundred years, there was proof that black people could take up arms against racist structures.
ReplyDeleteMau Mau may not have done much, but what little have you done yourself for your country apart from this rubbish you write here in the name of journalism? And while on this, why dont you write a book on how you acquired whatever you might have, and then we can probably decide who is a greater thief, between you and Karume? Just because you are a poor sod (literally) doesnt make you holier than Karume. It amazes me what nonsense you try to pass off as articles in the blog.
ReplyDeleteMwarang'ethe said...
ReplyDeleteAnd, if so, how do u separate the question of land and independence?
Can you tell us how many millions of £ UK spent to quash Mau Mau?
And, if you know the figure, which we doubt you know, would the UK have spent such a colossal sum of money if the rebellion was not serious?
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My answer;
The issue here is NOT how serious the Mau mau rebellion was but what impact it had in helping Kenya gain her independence.
Kenya was built on a foundation of lots of hypocrisy which I hope to touch on in my posts this weekend. As I said earlier it was fashionable during the Kenyatta administration to glorify the Mau mau way above any other folks who contributed in the fight for independence. And yet what did that administration do for the Mau mau remnants? They did not even share a fraction of their ill-gotten wealth with the widows and oprhans left behind by gallant Mau mau fighters who were fighting for their land and NOT independence. Kenya was NOT a country before the colonialists came but a collection of different tribes who were all fighting independently for their individual rights. Those who fought hardest were those who were affected most. There was hardly any fight in semi arid and arid areas of the country which the white settlers were not interested in.
The fight for independence emerged in 1958 when the first African members were elected to the LEGCO. For the first time Africans from different tribes started talking with one voice. It was this change in approach that had an even bigger impact on the white settlers than Mau Mau warriors raping white women and chopping off the heads of their husbands afterward.
Having said that it is also important to note that the settlers here resisted independence for Africans right upto the last minute and just had to surrender to the higher authority in London. Credit has to go to the initial Legco members who made the effort to understand British politics then and took advantage of this to get independence much faster than any armed struggle would have achieved.
You must also realize that there were political reasons for Kenyatta and company to glorify the Mau mau as the sole freedom fighters for Kenya. It was a clever way of saying that ONLY the Kikuyu fought for independence and without them Kenya would never have been independent. is this what you are saying Mwarang'ethe?
Of course there is a good reason that Kenyans have fallen for this lie. The Kenyatta administration used every public holiday to beam photos of Mau mau warriors and to exalt their gallant efforts and it is natural that most Kenyans have grown up "knowing" that it is the Mau mau who fought for independence.
The irony in all this is that the Mau mau hated Kenyatta and he came very close to being assassinated by "the people who fouight for independence". He received countless death threats and begged for his life by withdrawing statements that he had earlier made which had incensed the Mau mau.
Chris
Anon @ 10:48,
ReplyDeleteYou must be new to the web. There is a tool at the top left hand corner of your browser it is the "go back one page" tool. It is the fastest way to escape from any site you have "accidentally" come to. Use it to get out of here as quickly as possible. Don't waste your time leaving comments to articles that are "nonsense". There are so many other sites out there.
Chris
P.S. I notice from your ip address that you have left countless comments writing the obituary of this site. Aii. Don't you have something better to do with your time? Why keep visiting a site that is dieing according to you or writes nonsense? Constructive criticism and even disagreement with my point of view I can take any time. Stupidity and display of one's web ignorance I am losing patience with. As I am with paid hands coming here with their own agendas which I know very well.
Granted, independence came about due to a combination of factors including pressure from the IMF and World Bank on the European powers to let go of their colonies. There was also the realization that more liberation movements would rise up Mau Mau style and result in endless wars. This was the situation Portugal faced in 1974 where wars in Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Angola and East Timor forced the government to spend 70% of its budget on the military - and they still failed.
ReplyDeleteThat said, dismissing Mau Mau's contribution to Kenya's independence is playing into the hands of our former colonizers, ie, Britain. If you delegitimize Mau Mau, then you end up reducing the significance of the other Black liberation movements that came after Mau Mau.
Mau Mau had no chance of defeating the Royal Armed Forces but it made the British realize that their occupation of Kenya could not continue indefinetely.
Kenya was built on a foundation of lots of hypocrisy which I hope to touch on in my posts this weekend. As I said earlier it was fashionable during the Kenyatta administration to glorify the Mau mau way above any other folks who contributed in the fight for independence.
ReplyDeletexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It is not a question of glolifying Mau Mau bwana Chris.
Also, it is not a question of whether only Gema people fought for independence.
It the question of looking at these issues from an objective perspective.
As we stated before, it is impossible to separate land and independence. It is thus, very surprising you can state without blinking that they only fought for land and not independence.
Also, you state that Kenyatta has brainwashed some of us. Well, far from it. You seem to forget even people like Mandela have talked about Mau Mau and the effect it had on them. It seems to you that even people like Mandela have been brainwashed by Kenyatta regime.
Secondly, Mwarang'ethe is lucky for he did study Mau Mau question at the UON. Mark you, Mau Mau question is tackled as part of pre and after independence Kenyan history. Thus, we have the overall critical picture of the Kenyan history before and after independence.
It is true that those who were in the Legco played their part. However, to say that they were the only ones and decisive factor is like saying those who negotiated IPPG played a more crucial role than those who organised saba saba.
MauMau bless the poor folk for their gumption trying to take on the wakoloni. At least they tried just as people on a suicide mission are said to try.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the MauMau did little to make their fight a national fight opting instead to make theirs a Gikuyu-centric affair. This lack of strategy precipitated their annihilation by the Brits. Had the MauMau had the wherewithal to broaden their aspirations and defined their rebellion as a national affair, the Brits would have surely lost.
Put differently, one could argue that the MauMau were involved not so much in a quest for Kenya's independence but in fighting a brutal internicine tribal struggle pitting dispossessed Kikuyus, as represented by the MM, against their coopted petit-bourgeoisie Kikuyu brothers, the Michukis, Waruhius, Hingas and other ngati types.
Basically a Kikuyu civil war.
Ati Taabu is writing his biography at Old Trafford
ReplyDeleteChris, keep em coming my brother, KK is back to its old form-we shall be chatting on the net soon
Put differently, one could argue that the MauMau were involved not so much in a quest for Kenya's independence but in fighting a brutal internicine tribal struggle pitting dispossessed Kikuyus, as represented by the MM, against their coopted petit-bourgeoisie Kikuyu brothers, the Michukis, Waruhius, Hingas and other ngati types.
ReplyDeleteBasically a Kikuyu civil war.
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The question that we ought to ask is, who was or is a colonialist?
As we noted before, there was first internal colonialism( in England and Scotland violent land enclosures which have never been rectified) and then external colonialism.
From this perspective, a colonialist need not be defined by his color, but, by his actions. Thus, the Kikuyu guys who were collaborators were also colonialists.
After, all, didn't they have a blood relationship with Lugard?Seen this way, the war was between Mau Mau and colonialists who were and are still both black and white.
Kenya was under occupation by a foreign power. The Mau Mau had the motivation to fight. It is unrealistic to suggest that they should have achieved consensus with the rest of Kenya. How far do you think they would have gone when the entire communication and transport apparatus was in the hands of the colonialists? There comes a time when people just grab an idea and do what they have to do ...
ReplyDeleteChris said, Mau mau fighters who were fighting for their land and NOT independence.
ReplyDeleteDo you even realize how stupid that sounds? Land is freedom, silly! Our land, bururi witu does not necessarily mean the land you till on but your country and to fight for your country is to fight for your freedom. Do you suppose they wanted to have their land back so that they could continue being forced laborers in it?
Let us hear it from the great Malcolm X himself:
In Kenya, the Mau Mau were revolutionaries; they were the ones who made the word " Uhuru" [Kenyan word for "freedom"]. They were the ones who brought it to the fore.The Mau Mau, they were revolutionaries. They believed in scorched earth. They knocked everything aside that got in their way, and their revolution also was based on land, a desire for land. In Algeria, the northern part of Africa, a revolution took place. The Algerians were revolutionists; they wanted land. France offered to let them be integrated into France. They told France: to hell with France. They wanted some land, not some France. And they engaged in a bloody battle.
I guess Malcolm X too had ulterior reasons of glorifying Mau Mau to make it seem like a Kikuyu only affair.
The fact that other tribes did not join in the fight is actually a good question but it should be directed to the tribes who opted not to join the armed struggle. I do not recall the Mau Mau ever establishing a monopoly on violence against the occupier, in fact had other "tribal civil wars" (as you people are so disparagingly referring to Mau Mau) broken out throughout the country, we would have had independence sooner and REAL INDEPENDENCE at that....not Uhuru wa bendera which Cris claims to have been brought about by the comprador bourgeoisie political class.
The question of why the homeguards chose not to fight for Uhuru, should be directed to the homeguards themselves.
FYI, Mau Mau, the name, was a creation of the British. The freedom fighters referred to themselves as FLA FREEDOM AND LAND ARMY
Even if the Mau Mau were only fighting for their land, you should thank them that the war they waged againts the colonisers had spin-off effects--they left. So, flat-nosed, dewy-eyed cretins like you can today engage in mindless prattle.
ReplyDeleteWhichever way you frame the argument, distorting historical evidence and informed by your tribal prejudices, the outcome is the same. This is a simple truth that you cannot beat.
@3:07 PM it is one thing to be ignorant, but it is worse publicizing your stupidity.
ReplyDeleteRead a few more books or better still go to school.
Are you the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the patriotic homeguards and loyalists who fought so hard to protect the status quo,while at the same time killed fellow Kikuyu who were seeking freedom and autonomy.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmmmmm! They know who are? Shame on them wherever! Some of their loyalist parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were reponsible for the deaths of thousands of fellow Kikuyu people. Of course, Mau Mau fighters were no angels either.
Yet they are so busy at Kumekucha shouting out loud about how their people the homeguards fought so hard for land, freedom and the independence of Kenya.
Shame on you all and on the souls of their homeguard and loyalist ancestors.
I just h.a.t.e it when 95% of the descendants of the homeguards and loyalists continue to ride the Mau Mau bandwagon for expediency and for all it's worth, without shame.
"My people, our people fought for Independence when in reality, the very same people were homeguards or former Mau Mau who got caught and ended up betraying their former comrades in arms.
Waruhiu Itote and hundreds of former Mau Mau fighters betrayed Kimathi by facilitating his capture.
We are all ignorant and stupidu because we have always allowed others and the outside world to define who we are and what we need to know about our nation's history and our respective heritage.
ReplyDeleteLet's learn from our neighbours, the Ethiopian and how they have defined themselves over the centuries.
Hundreds of books written by outsiders will never enlighten us nor help understand who we really are as a people of Kenya.
TO ME NJENGA IS SMARTER THEN THE IDIOT WRITING THIS BLOG EFF YALL
ReplyDeletewhen will people like njenga karume and daniel arap moi kick the bucket like gerishom kirima? why do some smart people like njenga karume acumulate wealth only to leave behind when mother nature grants them an overdue exit pass to enternity? i just hope and pray that mother nature never allows or bribes me with good health so that i may live beyond the age of seventy or seventy-five. i would really hate it to live that long, although i would rather desire to take a permanent leave of absence from mother earth when i am in my mid-late sities, if the creator is willing to grant me the opportunity in a generous fashion. i didn't mean to be insensitive to the elders in question and their families, i just wish them well and congratulate them for a life well lived before normal expectations.
ReplyDeleteFocus on the positive side for once!
ReplyDelete