Did you know our labour actions date back to the 1890s, when workers building the Kenya-Uganda Railway protested over unfair wages? Unlike today, protests in the late 19th to early 20th century suffered from poor organization, which meant little changed in working conditions. All this changed when one man entered the scene in 1935 and revolutionized the labour union movement.

 

Makhan Singh was 23 years old when he joined the Indian Trade Labour Union. At the time, Singh was working in his father’s press publication. This labour union was the first of its kind, and its sole purpose was to demand Indian worker rights in an organized manner.

In a few short years, this union group had built a name for itself. Numbers continued to grow and African workers took notice and began joining the union. With this expanded representation came a name change to the Labour Trade Union of East Africa. The union became more than just a platform for which to demand a pay raise. It became a tool that empowered Africans, who occupied the lowest rung of the socio-economic ladder in colonial Kenya, to fight the oppressive system.

By this time, the colonial government had caught on to Singh’s growing influence among Africans and Indians. By finding common ground to unite the two races, he posed a significant threat. After all, unity amongst the races was not welcome. In addition, Makhan Singh was a communist, and he was unafraid of sharing his political ideologies. In a world that sharply divided communists from capitalists, Singh’s public proclamation began to raise eyebrows.

In 1940, when World War II began, Singh decided to travel to India. Shortly after his arrival to the country, he was arrested and imprisoned without trial. This was a move to keep him away from labour activities in both countries since one of his reasons for visiting India was to assess working conditions at a textile mill. He carried out a five-year sentence before being released in 1945. Instead of returning to Kenya immediately, he opted to remain in India and contribute to the struggle of independence through the mobilisation of workers. In 1947, his efforts, as well as that of many of his countrymen, finally paid off and India gained her independence.

Having tasted freedom from the Raj, he returned to Kenya where he intensified his work in both the labour union and the political movement. He made no distinction between the two fields as he believed that organized workers would be the ones to break the yoke of colonialism. In 1949, Singh sought to form an alliance between the nationalist party, Kenya African Union, and the East African Indian National Congress, a political party for which he was a member. The coalition would be spearheaded by a united workers’ movement. In April the next year, a joint meeting was held by the two parties in conjunction with the Labour Trade Union of East Africa.

Singh’s time in India had fuelled his efforts for the struggle of independence, he knew freedom was within grasp. During the meeting, he went as far as proclaiming, “Uhuru sasa!” This chant was taken up countrywide and the British government decided to find a way to contain his infectious zeal.
After several failed attempts to deport him, the colonial government adopted a new strategy. Less than a month after the joint meeting, Singh was arrested and taken into custody on trumped-up charges. To orchestrate a quick and low profile trial, Singh was moved from Nairobi to Nyeri. On 6th August 1950, the Labour Trade Union of East Africa was banned from operation and Makhan Singh was transported to Lokitaung to start indefinite detention.

During his incarceration, Singh was kept in isolation, with the exception of visits from his immediate family. Even these visits the government moderated heavily, only allowing them after long periods of time had elapsed. His legal counsel was not allowed to interact with him. All his reading material was heavily censored, and correspondence was intentionally delayed. Singh’s detention was one of deliberate harassment. Several times during this period, he was offered freedom on the condition that he would leave for India and never return, but he refused. In total, Makhan Singh’s detention lasted eleven and a half years.

Following his release in October 1961, Singh thrust himself back into the country’s political scene. His willingness to serve his country had not wavered, even after spending over a decade behind bars.

Post-independence Singh was not invited into government in any significant post and slowly began to recede from the limelight. In 1973, he passed away at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi due to cardiac arrest.

This Jamhuri week, we shine a light on this freedom fighter and applaud his dedication to justice and country.