Dedan Kimathi - WikiHQ

Dedan Kĩmathi Waciũri (born Kĩmathi Waciũri; 31 October 1920 – 18 February 1957) was the leader of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army during the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960) against the British colonial rule in Kenya in the 1950s. He was captured by the British in 1956 and executed in 1957. Kenya gained independence in 1963. Kĩmathi is credited with leading efforts to create formal military structures within the Mau Mau, and convening a war council in 1953. He, along with Baimungi M'marete, Musa Mwariama, Kubu Kubu, General China and Mũthoni Kīrīma, was one of the Field Marshals.

Kenyan nationalists view him as a freedom fighter in the Kenyan struggle for independence, while the British colonial authorities labelled Kĩmathi as a terrorist, and according to historian David Anderson "did all they could to besmirch his reputation." Despite being viewed negatively by Kenya's first two presidents, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi, Kĩmathi and his fellow Mau Mau rebels were officially recognised as heroes in the struggle for Kenyan independence under the Mwai Kibaki administration, culminating in the unveiling of a Kĩmathi statue in 2007. This was reinforced by the passage of a new Constitution in 2010 calling for recognition of national heroes.

Early life

Kĩmathi was likely born around 1920 in today's Nyeri County, where his father, valuing education, sent him to school. Kĩmathi excelled and his skills in writing and speech were noted. Anderson writes however that Kĩmathi was fiercely competitive, bullying, and frequently disciplined by teachers. Kĩmathi traveled to Nairobi in the late 1930s and joined the British army in 1940 but, according to Anderson, was discharged after one month, allegedly for drunkenness and violence. His activities with the group made him a target of the colonial government, and he was briefly arrested that same year but escaped with the help of local police. This marked the beginning of his involvement in the uprising, and he formed the Kenya Defence Council to co-ordinate all forest fighters in 1953.

Capture and execution

thumb|Uniform worn by Dedan Kimathi when he was killed. Collection of the [[National Museums of Kenya|National Museum of Kenya.]]

Kĩmathi's fight for an independent Kenya came to an end in 1956. On 21 October of that year, Ian Henderson, a British colonial police officer who had been on an "obsessive hunt" for Kĩmathi managed to trap him in his hide-out in the forest. He was tried before Chief Justice O’Connor with three African assessors. O’Connor found him guilty and sentenced him to death while he lay in a hospital bed at the General Hospital in Nyeri. His appeal was dismissed, and the sentence was upheld.

He asked to see his wife, and the morning of the execution Mũkami was allowed to see Kĩmathi. The two chatted for close to two hours. He told her that "I have no doubt in my mind that the British are determined to execute me. I have committed no crime. My only crime is that I am a Kenyan revolutionary who led a liberation army... Now If I must leave you and my family I have nothing to regret about. My blood will water the tree of Independence."

In the early morning of 18 February 1957 he was executed by hanging at the Kamĩtĩ Maximum Security Prison. He was buried in an unmarked grave, and his burial site remained unknown for 62 years until 25 October 2019 when the Dedan Kĩmathi Foundation reported that the grave-site had been identified at the Kamĩtĩ Prison grounds.

Personal life

Kĩmathi was married to Mũkami Kĩmathi. The government constructed a three-bedroomed house for Mukami at her farm in Kinangop, Nyandarua County in 2009 and provided her with a double cabin pickup for private use in 2012. In 2010, Kĩmathi's widow requested that the search for her husband's body be renewed so she could give him a proper burial. Mũkami Kĩmathi died on 4 or 5 May 2023 and was buried in Njabini Kinangop.

Legacy

Official registration of the Mau Mau

On 11 November 2003, the Kibaki government formally registered the Mau Mau movement, disregarding the colonial-era legislation that had outlawed the organisation and branded its members "terrorists". In his remarks during the handing over of the certificate, Vice President Moody Awori regretted that it had taken 40 years for the group to be officially registered despite the sacrifices the Mau Mau had made for Kenya's independence.

The Dedan Kimathi statue

The Kibaki government erected a 2.1 metre bronze statue titled Freedom Fighter Dedan Kimathi on a graphite plinth, in central Nairobi. The statue is at the junction of Kimathi Street and Mama Ngina Street. Kimathi, clad in military regalia, holds a rifle in the right hand and a dagger in the left, the last weapons he held in his struggle. The foundation stone for the statue was laid by Vice President Awori on 11 December 2006 and the completed statue unveiled by President Kibaki on 18 February 2007 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the day he was executed. In his remarks, Kibaki paid homage to Kimathi as a man who not only paid the ultimate price for Kenya's liberation but also inspired others to fight against oppression.

The statue attracted praise from Kenyans as a long overdue recognition of the Mau Mau for their part in the struggle for independence. This was in marked contrast to the post-colonial norm of the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi governments' regard of the Mau Mau as terrorists.

On 12 September 2015, the British government unveiled a Mau Mau memorial statue in Nairobi's Uhuru Park that it funded "as a symbol of reconciliation between the British government, the Mau Mau, and all those who suffered". This followed a June 2013 decision by Britain to compensate more than 5,000 Kenyans tortured and abused during the Mau Mau insurgency.

Nelson Mandela

Kĩmathi was held in high regard by anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. In July 1990, five months after his release from 27 years of imprisonment by South Africa's apartheid regime, Mandela visited Nairobi and requested to see Kimathi's grave and meet his widow Mũkami. Mandela's request was an embarrassing moment for the Moi administration, which had largely ignored Kĩmathi like Jomo Kenyatta's government before it. It was an awkward moment searching for her in the village where she and her family lived forgotten in poverty. Mandela's request was not met. During a public address at the Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi before he left the country, Mandela stated his admiration for Kimathi, Musa Mwariama, Waruhiu Itote, Kubu Kubu and other Mau Mau leaders who inspired his own struggle against injustice. It was only 15 years later in 2005, during his second visit to Kenya, that Mandela finally managed to meet Mukami as well as two of Kimathi's children.

Mandela's respect for Kimathi by the early 1960s is also alluded to in My Moment with a Legend by Ronnie Kasrils, the former intelligence chief of the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) and defence minister in Mandela's government.

Kĩmathi Street, Nairobi, Kenya – One of the main roads in Nairobi's Central Business District and where there is a statue in his honor
Dedan Kĩmathii Road, Lusaka, Zambia - Situated on this road is the Intercity Bus Terminus and ZCAS University.
Kĩmathi Avenue, Kampala, Uganda
Dedan Kĩmathi Road, Mombasa, Kenya
Kĩmathi Road, Nyeri Town, Kenya
Kĩmathi Road, Nanyuki Town, Kenya
Dedan Kĩmathi Street, Embalenhle, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Dedan Kĩmathi Memorial High School, Nyeri, Kenya
Kĩmathi Crescent, Isamilo, Mwanza, Tanzania
Kĩmathi Avenue, Eldoret, Kenya

References

External links

Daily Nation: Villagers' fond memories of Mau Mau hero Kimathi
Kenya Times: Did Kimathi die in vain?
Dedan Kimathi's background (article in the middle of the page)
A brief discussion of the uprising
Report from Kenya