Remembering our unsung heroes in fight for freedom

As Kenyans today mark the 11th Mashujaa Day, they should perhaps spare a few thoughts for long-forgotten individuals who made huge sacrifices during the struggle against colonialism.

These remarkable nationalists, most of whom are long dead, began agitating for African rights as early as during the closing years of the 19th century. Needless to say, there was a lot of resentment and plenty of conflict as ruthless British troops perpetrated atrocities against native populations.

Little wonder, then, that opposition to British imperialism actually began at the very start of occupation of indigenous territories. Hence, some of the earliest Kenyan heroes and heroines, among them the revered Koitalel arap Samoei, were spawned by such notable occurrences as the fierce Nandi Resistance between 1895 and 1905.

Less than a decade later, in 1913-1914, the British invaders were feeling the heat of the famous Giriama uprising.

However, it was soon after Kenya was declared a British colony in 1920 that resistance to British rule intensified. Unknown to many, though, the political activities organised to fight for the rights of indigenous people were not restricted to the Central region as is widely believed.

As early as February 1922, there was a group in Nyanza known as the Young Kavirondo Association that met at Nyahera. Its leaders were people whose names have over the years more or less vanished into the mists of time.

Gold deposits

Among these politically aware pioneers were people like Rev Simeon Nyende, an evangelist from Gem, who was ordained in 1933. Working together with him was Jonathan Okwirri, who was to later become the chairman of the Kavirondo Taxpayers Welfare Association (KTWA) and, later still, a chief.

Others in the region were Reuben Omolo, Mathayo Otieno and Benjamin Owuor, a dresser at the Maseno Hospital who also later became the Secretary of the KTWA. Also in the group was Joel Omino, who later became Secretary of the Central Nyanza Local Native Council.

And in the same region in 1927, one John-Paul Olola from Alego founded the Kisumu Native Chamber of Commerce (KNCC), whose Secretary was one Zablon Isaac Nyandoje. Both of them were members of the KTWA. While a few, like Ezekiel Apindi of Maseno and Jacobo Ochola of Gem are remembered, a number early opinion leaders from the region have long been forgotten.

A few years later, after the discovery of gold deposits in March 1931 in today’s Kakamega region, there were protest movements that led to the formation of the North Kavirondo Central Association. Also known as the Abaluyia Central Association or the Nyanza Central Association, its leaders have more or less been forgotten.

The association’s first president was one Andrea Jumba, an erstwhile little-known Maragoli schoolmaster from Tiriki Location, while its first Secretary was Erasto Ligalaba.

Historical records show that the latter was soon replaced by yet another rather obscure individual, John Adala. Hailing from Bunyore, he was a tutor at the Government African School, Kakamega.

These pioneers’ political activities were relatively sober compared to the havoc wreaked in later years by Elijah Masinde, a legendary figure from the region. A Bukusu born around 1910 at Kimilili in the Mt Elgon area, Masinde was the founder and leader of the Dini ya Msambwa, an ancestral worship movement which came into being in 1943.

Fine footballer

A fairly well-educated man, who was reputed to be a fine footballer, Masinde was a former member of the Friends African Mission, but he left it to found his own church. Apart from preaching a return to traditional Bukusu religion, he openly questioned some colonial policies on such matters as soil conservation and other agricultural issues.

For good reason, he is still remembered among the Bukusu as a veritable fighter. Indeed, he once moved many followers into a near-frenzy when he spoke at a rally held at a place called Kimaliwa. During that meeting, held on July 13, 1947, the fire-breathing Masinde told a crowd of some 400 people that all Europeans should be expelled from Kenya.

Consequently, he said, an African king, governor and administration should be appointed. At another meeting in August, the charismatic Masinde openly urged the Bukusu people, then known as the Kitosh, to take up arms and drive out the Europeans who had stolen their land.

With such rhetoric, the firebrand religious leader certainly gave the colonial authorities sleepless nights. Thoroughly alarmed, they declared Masinde insane and later detained him in 1948, first at the notorious Manda Island camp, from where he was later transferred to Marsabit.

Interestingly, during the colonial times, Elijah Masinde had an equivalent in Ukambani, in the person of one Ndonye Kauti. Deemed rather eccentric, in 1922 he surprised many when he declared in Machakos that he had been chosen by God to be responsible for the deliverance of the Kamba people.

Simple people

The colonial authorities were irked when he openly and publicly called for the expulsion of Europeans. When they failed to certify Kauti insane, as they were to later do with Elijah Masinde, they deported him to Lamu in 1923.

Gratefully, Ukambani had more sober leaders in the late 1930s, when the region was ravaged by serious problems fuelled by the unpopular policy of destocking.

Soon, local leaders decided that a petition should be sent to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies. Dated May 2, 1938, it was signed by Isaac Mwalonzi, Elijah Kavulu and Samuel Muindi, also known as Muindi Mbingu, who was actually a policeman.

Although the latter was honoured through the Nairobi street named after him, the two first signatories were simple people whose names have virtually been forgotten. While Mwalonzi was a former teacher, Kavulu was a mere clerk in government service. Also practically forgotten were other Kamba leaders like Joseph Katithi and Jesse Kitabi, who were at one time quite active in the Kenya African Union, KAU.

With the recent inauguration of the National Heroes Council, it can only be hoped that the obscure pioneers of the evolution of the Kenyan state will be recognised. There are many of them, and clearly they truly merit their proper places in Kenya’s history.

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