Landless freedom fighters cry foul 57 years after independence

Mr Kimunya Kamana, 93, is perhaps one of the few surviving freedom fighters in Nakuru County.

As Kenya celebrated the 57th Mashujaa Day on October 20, the man who is the patron of Mau Mau war veterans was a bitter man.

"Even if Mashujaa Day was held outside my house I will not attend the celebrations. What is there to celebrate when freedom fighters like me are still languishing in poverty? It's not yet Uhuru until all surviving freedom fighters and their families get land to bury the national heroes and heroines?"

“On March 14, 1973, at State House in Nakuru, the founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta gave former freedom fighters 60,000 acres of land in Solio Ranch but 57 years later, we have not been able to access this land despite being given allotment letters by Mzee Jomo Kenyatta after paying Sh30,000. Mzee Kenyatta told us there is nothing for free," explains Mr Kamana.

Expansive ranch

Former freedom fighters from Limuru, Murang'a, Kiambu, Meru, Nyeri and Embu claim ownership of the expansive ranch that stretches from Nyeri to Laikipia Counties.  

"If you meet President Uhuru Kenyatta, please remind him my days in this world of pain and sorrow are now numbered and I may join my maker anytime. Tell him my children have no land to bury me."

He added: "Please also remind him his father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta gave a group of former freedom fighters land at Solio ranch under Gucokaniriria Kihato Traders and Farmers Company but they are still waiting for the land. Some freedom fighters have died while others like me are counting their days."

Now 93, Mr Kamana is spending his sunset years in a rented county government house at Kaloleni C estate on the outskirts of Nakuru Town with his three children.

Pulling up the hems of his worn-out trousers, he exposes spider bite scars which he says he sustained while pursuing a land matter in Mathira, Nyeri County.

''I no longer walk properly because of the injuries I sustained, I rely on a walking aid, I feel pain as I walk,” he says.

Frustrating freedom fighters

"I've been living in a one-bedroom house under [the] care of my wife. The government has done nothing for freedom fighters. Even the Sh2,000 stipend for the elderly has fizzled out. I last received the money in April, those stealing from the elderly have no slightest idea how some of us fought to liberate Kenya from colonialists," explains Mr Kamana.

"Do these government officers frustrating freedom fighters understand the pain and the grief felt by those who fought for freedom during the state of emergency in Kenya? Do they know the kind of torture we were subjected to by the colonial administration?"

He added: “I went to the forest to fight for land but today I'm living in a rented house while those who never fought for this freedom are enjoying. Why is the government not doing something to surviving freedom fighters? Why is the government honouring thieves, cattle rustlers and economic saboteurs instead of freedom fighters? Why can't the government give us land?"

Mr Kamana who is a former Nakuru Mayor says freedom fighters and their families will vote a leader who will give them land.

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