Kenya’s road to independence was marked by gross brutality, immense suffering, and violations of human rights. This is because the British government ruled the colony with an iron fist in order to suppress any resistance. Incarceration was the most common way of slowing down the trump for independence among Africans and it was characterised by punitive corporal punishment. Imprisonment was two-tiered: common internment for ordinary dissenters and detention for “hardcore criminals” – audacious freedom fighters who threatened colonial rule.
Detention camps were introduced with the declaration of a state of emergency in 1952. The camps were used to break up guerilla revolts and tone down population pressure for decolonisation. They were located in remote areas that were highly inaccessible as this enabled the colonial government to torture and physically violate political detainees. One such camp was in Hola, an arid town in South-Eastern Kenya. Hola Camp was the setting behind the atrocities of 3rd March 1959. It was a day when Kenyans’ blood dripped from the brutal hands of the British aristocracy.
Say Their Names
On this fateful day, about 85 Mau Mau detainees in Hola were led to a site with the intention of forcing them to work as labourers. Being freedom fighters knowledgeable on the difference between colonial servitude and political detention, they blatantly refused to perform the duties of the former. This quest for dignified treatment led to the bundling of these freedom fighters to a valley where echoes of silence only reign.
The detainees were led to a trench about 12 feet deep. Here, 30 guards armed with bludgeons and 100 others with firearms manned the area. Flagged off by John Cowan – the colonial prisons chief – the heavy hands of the guards descended on the detainees. Once the final blow was dealt, 11 men lost their lives. Kabui Kaman, Ndungu Kibaki, Mwema Kinuthia, Kinyanjui Njoroge, Koroma Mburu, Karanja Munuthi, Ikeno Ikiro, Mwigwi Ndegwa, Kaman Karanja, Mungai Githi, and Ngugi Kariti.
As if the despotism that had caused the death of the 11 wasn’t enough, the colonial government drafted a bull and cock story to cover their prints on the deceased’s bodies when the pressure to unearth the cause of death mounted. It was insinuated that the detainees had died from drinking contaminated water. The colonialists, in an attempt to further wipe out evidence of the atrocities, changed Hola’s name to Galole.
The Truth. The Light
But just like the sun and the moon, the truth could not be hidden for long. Three days after the misleading cause of death was shared, Sir Evelyn Baring – Kenya’s governor – admitted that the initial report was flawed. This disclosure unearthed the gory details of the eleven deaths; thus, exposing the decayed moral fabric of the British legitimacy and the dirty façade of their imperialism.
Despite this shocking revelation, no one was prosecuted for the Hola Massacre. For Kenyans, however, this bloodbath amplified the pursuit of independence. Colonialism could no longer be executed in its old form. The negative publicity this incident received forced the British government to loosen its reins on the colony. This ended the state of emergency, the closure of detention camps, and the ultimate release of thousands of prisoners.
The keys to freedom were also cut when the Lancaster House Conference was devised to negotiate Kenya’s independence. Constitutional reforms that accompanied this intensified the quest for freedom. Political leaders joined parties and held inter-party elections, which informed the first Madaraka government on 1st June 1963. On 12th December of that year, Kenya became free indeed.
Honouring the Heroes of Hola
This newfound Uhuru didn’t mean that the horrors of the Hola massacre were forgotten. In 1971, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta – Kenya’s first president – convened a meeting at Tana River during which he reverted the name Galole to Hola.
53 years after the massacre, a few survivors sued the UK government for torture and won the legal case against the British government. Quite astonishing is the British government’s acceptance of the colonial administration’s torture of detainees while denying liability for the same.
The eleven freedom fighters who lost their lives are still remembered by name. They were immortalised through a monument that was erected on the site on which they lost their lives, which now serves as Hola Prison.
Over 80, 000 freedom fighters were captured and many were killed during the revolution in the 1950s and 1960s. The only befitting memorial to these gallant men and women is to remember and honour them. Their earnest beliefs in the cause of freedom saw their denial of self for the country, and our beautiful nation is founded on their sacrifices.
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