The cold war British colonies

Running head: STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE IN KENYA 1

STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE IN KENYA 6

STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE IN KENYA

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The struggle for independence in Kenya

By 1954 Kenya started to form movements that intended to uproot the British colonial rule in the country. Mau Mau rebellion movement was the primary movement in Kenya that went against British colonial rule and was in full flight and ready for any situation. During the struggle for Kenya's liberation against the British colonial rule, thousands of individual's lives were taken, including men, women, and children. During the battle for independence, each outrage led to a call for vengeance. The violence was escalating out of control (Ochieng, 1995). The summary of the struggle for freedom in Kenya began when the colonel was in charge of troops in the mau mau rehabilitation camp. Athi River made an apology to inmates at the base for selfishness and arrogance in an individual like himself that had offered opportunities in the rise of the rebellion and given in to work with both the blacks and white who had wished to rebuild and reform Kenya on the foundation of the Moral Re-Armament. 

It led to a change of mind for the several inmates in the camp. Significantly, one year later, after the change of mind by the inmate. These 600 individuals had severed their Mau Mau connections honorably, having one of them saying that if the moral Re-Armament can change hardcore Mau Mau like us who were full of hatred, then it can change any hardcore hearts similarly(Maxon,2021). Therefore, the research paper focuses on the Mau Mau movement, its primary leaders, ideologies, techniques used, and the legacies of the colonial practices that needed to be overruled for everyone benefit.

The Mau Mau movement of Kenya was one of the most celebrated movements involving the nationalist armed peasant revolt against the British colonial rule in Kenya. The overpowering majority of the Mau Mau fighters and supporters formed the passive wing that emanated from the ethnic group of Kikuyu in the central province. Some representations in the movement were from the Kamba, Embu, and Meru groups of ethnicities. Significantly, some additional proof of evidence indicates some individual members of the Luyia, Luo, and Maasai communities have participated in the revolt(Maxon,2021). Primary participants of the Mau Mau guerrillas rebellion were young men and the landless peasants. Significant the peasant and the landless individuals had lost the land to the corrupt chiefs, and other landed gentry in the central province during the colonial rule. In contrast, other victims fall due to land appropriation that was carried out to enable settlement of the Europeans who had to settle. The repatriated African settlers, especially from the white farmers in the rift valley province, powered the movement.

Dedan Kimathi Waciuri was one of the celebrated leaders in the Mau Mau rebellion against British colonial rule. Dedan Kimathi was born October 31, 1920, and in the year 1950, Dedan became one of the most prolific leaders in the Mau Mau movements. He began by joining the forty group, one of the militant wing of the Kikuyu, and by 1951 was elected as the local branch secretary of the K.A.U. in the year 1952, becoming both militant leader and political at the same time. In 1953 Dedan kimathi formed the most potent Kenya Defense council to articulate and coordinate all the forest fighters of the Mau Mau revolt against the colonial oppressors. However, Dedan Kimathi was then arrested in 1956 and later hanged at Kamiti maximum security prison by the British colonial rulers on February 18, 1957. The late Dedan Kimathi was buried in a mass grave, and the colonial government continues to refute his reburial and considered late Dedan as a terrorist for leading the rebillion. However, many Kenyan take Dedan Kimathi as the most national celebrated hero, and many places and city streets are named after him (Maxon, ,2021). Jomo Kenyatta is another leader of the Mau Mau revolt as perceived by the British colonial government since he offered some great support to the movement during the struggle for Kenya's independence.

The primary causes of the uprising for the Mau Mau movements against the British colonial ruler are that the Africans, particularly Kenyans, wanted equal representation in the legislative council, meaning that they wanted their members to be elected but not nominated. The second cause of the Mau Mau movement in Kenya resulted when the Africans in Kenyan demanded the lost land to the whites for settlement. The colonial government had taken the land from the Africans for the whites to settle, provoking the natives to demand it back. The long working hours and underpayment by the white settlers also became the cause for revolution. Becoming a squatter in your land and get low pay can trigger hatred, and the Africans saw the need to uproot the colonial government and send them back to their nations (Gathogo, 2017). Finally, the emergence of the ex-servicemen who needed the changes in the constitution and attainments of independence was also a discourse of the Mau Mau uprising. The ex-servicemen initiated strong opposition against the colonial rule. The forty group ex-servicemen halted the Kikuyu community from terracing under the control of the district officers.

 The formation of the national political parties that fully encourage the Mau Mau movement since they had the same ideologies, they fought for became a primary contributing factor. In 1949 the oathings in the squatter system and the central province brought the individual together to support the mau mau movement—the extensive assumption of the K.A.U. Leaders by the radical group establishes the action to be more effective and powerful.

The first legacy that standout is the school. Since the white settlers went back to their nations, most schools became multi-racial, and anyone is allowed to seek education from the institutions. The parliament they built remained the same with few renovations. The hospital built by the white colonial rules remained to serve the multi-racial it, therefore, becomes significant legacy left by the colonial rulers. The railway and road constructed by the white settlers comprehensively remained to be substantial legacies left behind by the colonial rulers because they assist in transportation systems (Owino, 2021). However, some negative legacies, such as tribalism, began during the colonial government period, and it became one of the most backward practices that need to be addressed in Kenya. Kenya's government should form strategic intervention that brings commonest along all tribes. After the independence, the Kenya government adopted the single-party state system that saw Jomo Kenyatta became the first Kenyan president. Here they decided to form a single political party that could run the government while forbidding other political parties.

Kenya, like any other country, had to struggle for its independence. Struggling for independence or liberation is always marred by several challenges facing both oppressors and oppressed. Mau Mau movement significantly played a vital role in enhancing the freedom for the Kenya liberation. Demanding equal economic resources, exact basic needs and owning of properties, and political independence of representation provoke the settlers to seek justice through outrage and violence to occupy their space. Thanks to the most celebrated Dedan Kimathi for his solid stand to ensure the native citizens attained their right to own properties and appropriate resources.

References

Gathogo, J. (2017). Mau-Mau war rituals and women rebels in Kirinyaga county of Kenya (1952-1960): retrieving women participation in Kenya's struggle for independence. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 43(2), 1-16.

Maxon, R. M. (2021). MAU MAU AND POPULAR MEMORY IN KENYA-Dedan Kimathi on Trial: Colonial Justice and Popular Memory in Kenya's Mau Mau Rebellion. Edited by Julie MacArthur. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2017. Pp. 432. 90.00, hardcover (978-0-89680-316-9). The Journal of African History, 62(1), 164-165.

Ochieng, W. R. (1995). Decolonization and independence in Kenya. Ohio State University Press.

Owino, M. (2021). Kenya and the Second World War: A review of the historiographical landscape. History Compass, 19(3), e12649.