The Betrayal of the Mau Mau Freedom Fighters by Gitu Kahengeri

A unique book was recently published by a  Mau Mau veteran known as Gitu Kahengeri, a Gikuyu mzee, the main community with whom Mau Mau was associated. 

The book is unique in several ways. One, it was written by a 99 year-old. He is remarkably fluent in the colonial English language which he learnt when he was a 17-year old boy.  He comes from the same area as Jomo Kenyatta the first president of Kenya, i.e., Gatundu in Kiambu District. 

As told by Kahengeri,  this book is unique in that it tells how the “thinkers and strategists” organised the war that Britain practically lost. Most of them could never accept that a couple of Africans could defeat an “empire where the sun never sets”.  

The book by Kahengeri is, for many Kenyans, the classic tragedy that makes one wonder, looking back, whether fighting the British finally availed the fruits of freedom for the people who were at its frontlines. This is especially poignant sixty years after independence when new generations that are completely removed from the war or liberation now lead an independent Kenya. Maybe history will one day prove that the fighting against the British was probably “worth” it.  

Kahengeri’s book is available online and in a few Nairobi bookshops.