Writers, poets, musicians are often regarded as the keepers of culture. Our modern Kenya is no different – while bloggers and influencers are curators of the times, their craft is not new, only their platforms. As far back as the 1920s when Harry Thuku put out Tangazo, a Swahili political newspaper, and the Kikuyu Central Association (precursor to Kenya Africa Union and precursor to KANU) began the publication of Muigwithania /The Reconciler, the writers and publishers of oral, musical and written prose have been at the forefront of political activism.
Born in 1921 at Tumu Tumu in present day Nyeri, Gakaara Wanjau was part of this tribe of changemakers. As the son of a Church Missionary Society Reverend, Gakaara was enrolled early in school and attended Mahiga and Tumu Tumu primary schools between 1928 and 1938. His academic success saw him enrolled in Alliance High School in 1939, but his secondary days were short lived as he was involved in a student revolt that refused to support the Kenya War Fund and was summarily expelled along with two other students. In an ironic twist of fate, the very war he was against providing labour for in school, became his next port of call as he joined the armed forces as a clerk and served in North and East Africa until 1945. Like many other Africans, participating in World War II was an awakening that was fuelled by the growing discontent amongst educated Africans. The increased questioning of the role of Christianity as taught by the British, and the rise of the intellectualism powered by the independent school’s movement in Kenya, Gakaara became a member of KAU in 1946. At the same time, his thirst for and enjoyment of the written word led him to become a prolific writer.
His first fiction book, Uhoro wa Ugurani/The Story of Marriage, was published in 1946 by the African Book Writers Limited, a firm he established with a few writer friends. Soon, Gakaara was becoming fully immersed in the literary circles of writers, publishers and printers in the growing metropolis of discontent that was Nairobi in the forties. His second title, Roho ya Kiume na Bidii kwa Mwafrika/The Spirit of Manhood and Perseverance for the African, which was published in 1948 provides an indication of his growing political awakening and his desire to influence intellectual discourse. By this time Gakaara had teamed up with other ‘pushers of political awareness’ such as Henry Mworia who published Mumenyereri/The Caretaker with his wife Judith Nyamurwa; Sauti ya Mwafrika/The Voice of the African, edited by John D. Kali; and Isaac Gathanju who published Wihuge/Be Alert. Many of these publications reported not just the goings on of the week, but in essence were unofficial mouthpieces for KAU, reporting the deliberations and decisions of the weekly meetings. Enamored by the opportunity to use his pen as a weapon, Gakaara started publishing his monthly Waigua atia?/What‘s the News? in February 1952 as a complimentary effort. In addition, he would collect and curate freedom hymns, many of which were sung in Kikuyu to the tune of well-known English hymns such as Blessed Assurance or Onward Christian Soldiers, but with a completely different meaning offering clues to the latest opportunities to join the resistance, right under the noses of the colonialists.
Restrictions at the time stopped Africans from owning printing presses, but the clamoring for recognition in the Kenyan colony was not only an African aspiration. Asian printers would provide the necessary printers for these anti-establishment writers, often at no cost. V. G. Patel and G. L. Vidyarthi who published anti-colonial newspapers, Colonial Times and Habari ya Dunia, were the principal supporters of these efforts. The decision was not a light one as by 1950 the colonial government had enacted a law stating that printers were more liable than editors for the publication of what could be deemed as seditious material, and their presses could be confiscated if found guilty. But the tides of change in the colony could not be held back. Discontent had arrived and people were ready to fight with whatever means they had – pens, printers, or pistols.
The Emergency started with the infamous Operation Jock Scott where suspected Mau Mau leaders, political activists and their supporters were rounded up within a carefully coordinated 24-hour period. African newspapers were banned overnight, all public meetings were shut down and almost all independent schools were closed. Amongst the 183 persons rounded up were Gakaara, Vidyarthi, Patel, Kali, Victor Wokabi, Willy Wambugu, Judith Nyamurwa, John Kabogoro, and Mwaniki Mugweru. Judith’s husband Mworia was in England trying to purchase a printing press and escaped the infamous dragnet. Altogether twelve periodicals were shut down in October 1952 – 2 in Kiswahili, 1 Embu, 1 Kikamba, and 8 Gikuyu, for they had become the voice of the people, an antidote to the biased teachings in churches and schools, telling a story of freedom and hope in the people’s languages.
Gakaara was indicted for the publication of hymn books including Nyimbo cia Kwarahura/Awakening Songs, his widely read Witikio wa Gikuvu na Mumbi/The Creed of Gikuyu and Mumbi and the far reaching Roho ya Kiume na Bidii kwa Mwafrika that was in circulation as far as Tanganyika. The hymn books were used as damming evidence of Mau Mau complicity at the Kapenguria Six trials, as well as his own. Shortly after his arrest Gakaara was detained at Kajiado Detention Camp, the first of six camps he was interred at during his eight-year detention as he moved slowly through the infamous Pipeline which one could only escape by confessing to taking the oath, surviving screening (torture) or undergoing “rehabilitation”. While detained at Manda Island Camp he took up a correspondence course in writing. The course helped hone his skills and may have been instrumental in prompting him to maintain his prison diary which he kept hidden under a false bottom in his box. The diary was eventually published in 1984 and is one of only two detailed written accounts of life in detention during Kenya’s emergency.
Gakaara was eventually released from Hola Camp, where he had been interred as an open detainee with his family in 1959. He was repatriated to Thaithi village under restriction, meaning he could not engage in any political activity, join a party or travel outside his locality. In 1960 all restrictions against detainees were lifted and he wasted no time in moving to Nairobi where he joined the Sauti ya KANU editorial team to continue to agitate with his pen for freedom. In 1961 Gakaara set up his own publishing and printing house where he continued to write and publish not only his own books and periodicals such as the Atiriri series, Gikuyu na Mumbi Magazine; but to support the writing of many other budding writers. In 1985 Gakaara Wanjau was awarded the Noma for Publishing in Africa for his prison diary Mwandiki wa Mau Mau Ithamirio-ini/Mau Mau Author in Detention. He passed away in 2001 in Karatina having left a legacy of thousands of words that moved history.
Gakaara Wanjau: Freedom Writer, Word Warrior.
