Land, Freedom, Church, and Oral History

Retracing General Ndaya during Kenya’s War of Independence

Abstract

This article explores the delicate context of the 1950s, when the church was classed with the oppressor, perhaps wrongly, during Kenya’s quest for land and freedom (wiyathi na ithaka). Indeed, the antithesis of the church and its perceived engagement with the “intolerant” state in colonial Kenya is epitomised in the life of General Ndaya, the Mau-Mau rebel leader in the then-Embu District (now Kirinyaga and Embu counties). This was communicated when his soldiers attacked and shed blood in an otherwise holy ground, the Roman Catholic Church, Baricho Parish of the present-day Kirinyaga County, in October 1953. Using oral history techniques, such as storytelling, archival sources, and personal communications, among others, the research article focuses on the Kenyan freedom fighter, General Ndaya, whose historicity has failed to gain traction in the national historiographies since the 17th of October 1953, when he was killed after the Battle of River Ragati, along the Nyeri-Kirinyaga County border. In this article, the lifetimes of the pioneer Mau-Mau rebel general are used as the axis through which the concepts of land, freedom, church, and oral history are interfaced in our endeavour to understand the delicate situation where the “reign of terror” triggered the “guillotining” of the “saints.” Is oral history the right companion in our endeavour to learn from our past errors?