THE MAN WHO FOUGHT TO FREE HIS COUNTRY
DEDAN KIMATHI
As a young man Dedan worked as a teacher and then as a clerk. Over time he became one of the most important leaders of the Mau Mau uprising, which began in the early 1950s. Many Kikuyu people had lost their land to European settlers, and they wanted it back along with the right to govern themselves.
Kimathi joined the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, the armed wing of the movement. He became its leader and was given the title of Field Marshal. From forest hideouts in the Aberdare mountains and on Mount Kenya, his fighters attacked British colonial forces and the settlers who supported them. The uprising made the British government take Kenya's independence movement very seriously, and many people around the world began to ask why a colony would fight so hard to keep control of land that was not its own.
British forces captured Kimathi in October 1956 after a long hunt. He was tried in a court that many people considered unfair. He was found guilty and hanged in February 1957. Although he did not live to see it, Kenya became independent in December 1963. His name then became a symbol of the struggle for freedom, and today he is honoured as a national hero in Kenya.
The Mau Mau fighters killed many people, including Kikuyu civilians who had worked with the British, loyalist villagers, and some European settlers. Thousands of Kenyans were held in detention camps, where many were beaten and tortured, and the colonial government did its best to hide these abuses for years. In 2013 the British government agreed to pay compensation to thousands of surviving Mau Mau veterans, which showed that the suffering on both sides had been far greater than many had admitted. Kimathi showed the world that a colonial power could be challenged. His uprising helped push Britain toward a faster exit from Kenya and gave strength to other freedom movements across Africa.
365 men who changed the world.
Kamikun John, Author 366 days of wisdom.
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