KENYA: General China & Friends

In 1939 for instance, African Railway Apprentices in Mombasa downed their tools, inspiring their colleagues all along the railway line. 15,000 workers held demonstrations that forced the Legislative Council to heed their needs. The mother of all strikes, known as the Nairobi General Strike of 1950 coincided with the official recognition of Nairobi as a municipality. Affairs in Nairobi were altogether halted, which was a huge embarrassment to the colonial government. British Royalty and legislators had streamed into the colony to celebrate the raising of Nairobi’s status, only to be met by a testament of the government’s incompetence.

What I’m trying to say is, by hosting trade uni

ons, Kiburi House midwifed nationalism. Labour exploitation was one of the cornerstone elements of colonisation. The welfare of the worker was an SI unit of colonial policy. It is no coincidence that the leaders of these trade unions were also the heads of the political parties that the government was so afraid of. The trade unions housed in Kiburi House included:

• Kenya Quarry & Mine Workers Union

• Kenya Electrical Trades Allied Workers Union

• Kenya Shoe & Leather Workers Union

• Kenya National Private Security Workers Union

• Kenya Hotels & Allied Workers Union

• Kenya Union of Commercial, Food & Allied Workers

• Transport and Allied Workers Union

  etc…

Trade union activities rent the place by day; hidden from sight was a more violent approach to nationalism. The engine of the Maumau.

He served as a traitor executioner on behalf of the KKW. Savvy readers understand how ironic this is, considering he was the first general to spill the beans on the Maumau operations after being arrested by Ian Henderson in 1954. This marked a turning point in the war. I digress.

As an ex-soldier, he was valued by the KKW and recorded how cases and appeals were decided by the council, either in the presence or absence of the appellant. Strategy meetings were also held, and the messages relayed to the masses, mostly in Kaloleni Social Hall- another unsung national heritage site. This is confirmed in an interview with Nyaga M’aruja, a Maumau Veteran.

Raid

In the Kikuyu Proverbs article, we mentioned the thimo, Ng’enda thîî ndîagaga mûtegi- an animal that treads the ground will sooner or later, find itself trapped.

The colonial government realised it was in a precarious position when their closest Kikuyu ally, Senior Chief Waruhiu wa Kung’u was shot in his car at Gachie. The bullet caught him right in the mouth. Get this, Kiburi wa Thumbi, the owner of Kiburi House, was in the car with him and escaped the incident unscathed. Anyway, it prompted the colonial government to declare a state of emergency and then immediately begin arresting perceived threats.

First and foremost were the Kapenguria Six. Bildad Kaggia, Paul Ngei, Fred Kubai and Kung’u Karumba were KAU’s mouthpieces so it makes sense that they were grabbed first but these were just the known individuals. Achieng Oneko delivered fiery speeches in the KAU rallies and the Kaloleni Hall meetings. Waruhiu Itote notes in Maumau General, just how secretive the inner council was, and it would take some time to smoke them out.

Louis Leakey, the colony’s authority on the Kikuyu, had established a spy network that had infiltrated deep into KAU. He slowly unearthed enough evidence of Kiburi House's activities to convince the colonial government to conduct a security raid.

In early May 1953, it finally happened—a daylight raid into the once sacred space that was Kiburi House. Several Trade Union leaders were arrested and detained. In an entry in the UK House of Commons Hansard dated 20th May 1953, Fenner Brockway enquired from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the charges for which high-ranking trade union leaders in Kenya had been arrested. The Secretary of State answered that they had been arrested as members of the KKW or Council of Freedom.

They were:

Mr. Nyamu Marah- General Secretary, Transport and Allied Workers Union

Mr. James Wainaina- Treasurer of the Transport and Allied Workers Union

Mr. Rufus Kinuthia- General Secretary of the Domestic and Hotel Workers Union, have been arrested in Kenya.

Rufus Kinuthia Macharia is my grandfather. The General Secretary of the Domestic and Hotel Workers Union. A member of the Council of Freedom subcommittee. Finding this piece of information solidified my career path and life’s purpose. I could not be prouder.