The Legislator – Eliud Mathu

When we speak of the struggle for independence, what comes to mind? The Mau – Mau rebellion, the bloodshed, the strife? It was indeed, a struggle, one that took on many different forms and faces. In the case of Eliud Mathu, he fought this war in his suit and tie. For him, independence meant Africans having a seat at the table.
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The Legislative Council (LegCo) was established by the British in 1907 to advise the Chief Minister on how to conduct the colony. Its members were nominated from the European settler community. By 1920 Kenya was officially declared a British colony and the Governor represented the King of England.

At the LegCo elections held on March 15 1924, there were 17 elected seats, 11 seats for whites, five seats for Indians, and one seat for Arabs. Evidently, Africans were not welcome in the governance of a nation where they were the majority.
But all that was about to change, and is why we recognize Eliud Mathu today as one of the unsung heroes of Jamhuri.
Eliud Mathu was born 11 kilometers west of Nairobi in 1910. He was among the bright faces of the African boys who made up the inaugural class of Alliance High School in 1926. Upon completing his studies, the diligent student became a teacher at the school.

In 1932 he was among the first Africans to study abroad at Fort Hare College in South Africa where he passed the South African matriculation exams. After which he returned home and continued to teach at Alliance. In this setting, Mathu stood out as the only African among the European teaching staff. He had to work twice as hard to get half the recognition. His efforts led to him being awarded a scholarship to study history at the prestigious Oxford University in Britain in 1938, he also attained a teaching diploma at Exeter University. He returned home two years later and resumed his teaching position.

Something must have shifted within him as a result of living in Britain because, until 1942, Mathu’s involvement in politics was minimal. Perhaps the alienation that came from being a minority gave him room to observe. To observe how the British society functioned, how they did politics, he studied them as a people and saw how he could apply some of these lessons to change the status quo on the home front.

He began his political career when he co-founded the Kenya Africa Study Union (KASU). In time KASU became KAU – the Kenya African Union – in order to disassociate the party’s name from education and ground it in politics. Their party flag colours were those of our national flag today. Indirectly, Mathu’s entry into politics laid the groundwork for a significant symbol of national unity.

In 1944, Eliud Mathu was nominated as the first African representative of the LegCo. He paved the way for the inclusion of Africans and was the voice of the voiceless. Mathu grew into a skilled debater and committeeman. He built a reputation for being fair and moderate. As an admirer of American educator and reformer Booker T Washington and perhaps on account of his global experiences, he was a believer in inter-racial co-operation. In the spirit of the times, he believed that ‘half a loaf is better than none.’

Nevertheless, Mathu did not agree with the hierarchy of racial structures in Kenya at the time. He was against settler domination and pressed for political and land reform and the expansion of social services for Africans.

During the State of emergency that began in 1952, Mathu was caught in the middle between the demands of Kikuyu militants and the suspicions of the settlers and government. He was vocal about his views that mismanagement and political oppression had created the Mau-Mau and that it would take major reforms to bring peace.

By 1955, there were five African members of LegCo, one of them, a young Daniel Arap Moi. In 1957, Mathu was not re-elected and thus lost his seat in LegCo. This was largely based on suspicions that he was aligned with the Mau Mau.

His legacy of 13 years in LegCo cannot be erased, and today we remember him for the dedicated teacher and pioneer legislator he was.