Mashujaa Day; A special day for ancestors reverence in Kenya

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Mashujaa is a special day every 20th of October in Kenya to celebrate the country's heroes. Men and women who made it their number one mission to see Africans free and respected. 

Even though it was an expensive task, they were never threatened by the price that at times included their lives. What kept them moving was the dream of a free Kenya, free from colonialism, slavery, and discrimination.

The struggle started long ago even before the colonizers set foot in Kenya. Various tribes' seers foretold about the coming of the misery. Mepoho of the Agiriama and Syetune of the Akamba warned their people about this. 

They talked of a foreign people coming to Kenya who carried guns and had ill intentions. The people were not coming in peace for there will be war after their arrival. If they were to take away our African culture, we would lose our identity.

Soon the prophecies came true, Europeans began coming to Kenya in 1498 when the Portuguese first arrived. The Arabs come even earlier and Africans had already felt the pain. War, torture, and slavery were part of the suffering.

After the 1885 Berlin conference, Kenya was declared a British protectorate. During that time another group of noblemen and women arose to protect their land and people. 

The group consisted of chiefs, elders, warriors, and kings who felt that the interest of their people was in danger. Africans started setting up military expeditions against the invaders.

Traditional leaders like Koitalel Arap Samoei of the Kalenjin, Mekatilili Wa Menza of the Agiriama and Mukite Wa Neme of the Abukusu led in the early resistance. The early leaders fought mainly for self-defense and to preserve their sovereignty which was now at risk.

[Image courtesy]
Mekatilili Wa Menza

Later in 1920, Kenya was made a colony as the British took full control of the land against the will of its people. The movement took another form, a unified one. African communities from central Kenya formed the MauMau, a military wing known as the Land and Freedom army.

These were mostly Africans who took part in world war II where they learned that the colonialists too died from their gun bullets. They launched guerrilla warfare against the British in the 1950s. 

Some of the notable leaders of the movement were Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi, Musa Mwaria, and Muthoni. The men were military tacticians that Malcolm X, an African-American race leader, at one point praises them for their expertise.


Field Marshell Dedan Kimathi after his arrest in 1956

After the capture of Jomo Kenyatta, the hanging of Dedan Kimathi, and the imposition of a state of emergency, the MauMau movement was weakened.

However, it now took a political form. Politicians like Oginga Odinga, Ronald Ngala, and Harry Thuku among many others took the opportunity to carry on the fight. 

Many political parties were formed as Jomo Kenyatta lead the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party that lead Kenya to independence in 1963.

Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya, and Oginga Odinga celebrating KANU's victory

It had been a long journey that was made possible by all the selfless people that walked ahead of us.

Some died, some were imprisoned, some exiled but finally it paid off. We salute all "heroes" mashujaa.

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