“The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.” This quote by James Baldwin perfectly encapsulates the path of Bildad Kaggia, well known as one of the Kapenguria Six and perhaps one of the few who was correctly charged with being a member of the Mau Mau.
Early Life
Kaggia was born in 1922 in the Dagoretti area. His father was a labourer on the Santamor Estate where Kaggia was first enrolled in school. Like most African children at the time, learning was limited to basic literacy and numeracy, yet Kaggia soon settled and thrived. He was later sent to the Church Missionary Society school in Kahuhia were he excelled throughout the years and was eventually admitted to Alliance for high school. Sadly, his family could not raise the requisite fees of 50 shillings even though he had secured a bursary for the remaining amount of 150/= leading to the end of his educational pursuits.
His tenacity and brilliance however had been realized by his Kahuhia school principal who introduced him to the Fort Hall DC for a position as a clerk. Coming in as the first African to be considered for a clerical position was Kaggia’s first experience at discrimination. While on the job he soon learnt that his skills were no compensation for his colour and that he should not expect to rise in the ranks “beyond his station.” By then the second world war had begun in Europe and as part of his duties he was responsible for documenting the thousands of conscripts who were passing through Fort Hall on their way to join the war effort. Kaggia had no interest in signing up until he received a letter from an old friend who detailed his experiences in Jerusalem while he was posted in Palestine. The thought of walking the roads that he had learnt of in the Bible intrigued him and based on that one letter he signed up.
Unlearning through Experience
Luckily for him, his standing and experience as a clerk meant that he went into the army not to fight, but to wield his pen. He was stationed in Ismailia, Egypt by early 1940 as a staff sergeant, an unusual and virtually unheard of post for an African. Once again he faced discrimination from European soldiers of lower rank than him; but also he met an African American officer who began to sow the seeds of understanding that Africans could be commissioned officers as well, a thought that had never occurred to him. His time in the army was one of growing awareness for him, not just of his own identity but of the work at large. Several trips to Jerusalem opened his eyes further, as he began to understand the origins of the Bible he had learnt of so diligently in school.
Towards the end of 1943 Kaggia was dispatched to the UK as a quartermaster working to repatriate African prisoners who had been captured during the war. His time there was a further awakening as he met working class Britons who had never encountered Africans but strangely were very different from the settlers in the colony. He was enveloped into the Assemblies of God, a church movement very different from the classist and hierarchical Anglican church he had grown up in. Here he was treated under the banner of true brotherly love. In his spare time while in London he took the time to painstakingly go through the translation of the Kikuyu Bible to see if it was well translated. He brought several anomalies that favoured colonial and missionary interests to the attention of the Foreign Bible Society, but the translations were never changed. The growing realization that there was a whole different world and appreciation of African identity outside of his colonial experience made an indelible impact on Kaggia. There was no turning back to the old version of the truths he used to accept as gospel.
Religious Activism
By the time he returned to Kenya Kaggia was an emboldened and radical revolutionary. He thought about joining the Kenya African Union but found it too tame in its ambitions. Instead, he started off by spreading the gospel of an awakened Christianity, unadulterated by translation or religious doctrine. He became a popular speaker in Nairobi and the central regions as churches emptied out to hear him speak. Soon his following was known as Dini ya Kaggia or Kaggia’s religion a movement which sowed many of the seeds of non-Western churches in Kenya. His speeches helped grow the seeds of questioning and discontent which were echoed by groups such as the “Anake a 40” veteran soldiers who had also witnessed a different side of life during the war. Kaggia’s fieriness found roots with the trade union movement, which in the 1940s was much more radical than the political movement. He started the Clerks and Commercial Workers’ Union for clerical workers to be enjoined under Makhan Singh’s Labour Trade union of East Africa. But before they could join the Congress was disbanded by the colonial government. Despite this the CCWU made a bold move and took over the KAU Nairobi branch, and soon became the hotbed of radical politics in Kenya.
The growing pressure on seeds of nationalism were being fought hard, but Kaggia was determined to fight back. An early step was challenging the apartheid like by laws that governed segregation in Nairobi. After being arrested because of being out of the African areas after 10pm, Kaggia and others appeared in court ready to challenge the by laws – and they succeeded. By this time there was a growing movement known only as muhimu. This movement was keen on throwing off the yoke of colonialism, and Kaggia’s unapologetic stance brought him to the attention of those in command. He soon took the oath and joined the Central Committee, the apex body that was governing the work of the muhimu movement, that was eventually christened Mau Mau. Using the KAU offices at Kiburi House on Grogan (Kirinyaga) Road as a base, the committee would host meetings after hours and deliberate on how to expand their movement across the country. As tensions rose across the colony, Kaggia came under the radar of suspicion and in October 1952 was detained in Operation Jock Scott. Together with five other Kenyans he was detained for the operation of an unlawful Society under the banner of the Kapenguria Six. For Kaggia, his exposure was his undoing and his awakening. Education at its heart is meant to enable one to think and question the world in which they live, and for the truly educated, find solutions to the problems they now witness. We as a nation are grateful for the educated and awakened ones such as Bildad Kaggia, the ones who take us all forward beyond injustice.