The Mau Mau reparations case: claimant profiles

John Njigoya Kagwe alias John Kiboko

I was born in 1930 in Kirinyaga District. I have a wife and six children. During the liberation struggle, I was rounded up in Operation Anvil and held at Langata in Nairobi. I was arrested once again in 1957, when I was shot in the right leg in an ambush by a home guard patrol led by a tall European DO (district officer) – KG, who lived in Mukangu village and who had been nicknamed ‘Waikanja’ After my arrest, I was charged in Embu in 1957 with the offence of associating with the Mau Mau. I was jailed for nine years at Nairobi Temporary Prison in Kamiti. Though I was convicted I did not serve the whole sentence. I was walking with crutches at the time. I was also in leg chains permanently riveted for the 2 years. I served part of my jail term in Embakasi where we built the airport. We were under the command of a European officer (of medium build, average height, small moustache and scary face) who we called ‘Kiriro’ (the cry). Very many prisoners died during the construction of the airport. Their bodies would be collected in trucks and sent to Kamiti for burial. From Embakasi, I was taken to Mwea Camps where we were asked to tear off our prison clothes and change into others. If someone refused mud was stuffed in his mouth and a stick used to push it in. This is the torture that was inflicted on me by Jeremiah Kiereini leading to my loss of all my teeth (I wear dentures today). All the while, a white British officer watched as this happened.

Patrick wa Njogu alias ‘General’ Kassam Njogu

I was born in the 1920s in Embu District and joined the Mau Mau in the Mount Kenya forest in 1952. In 1956, in Kirinyaga, I was shot in the left leg and subsequently arrested and taken to Embu. When I was taken to Embu General Hospital, I remained chained to the hospital bed in spite of my grievous bullet wound. I have never felt so much pain in my life. My leg was tightly bound until pus was flowing out freely. Eventually, my left leg had to be amputated above the knee. During the operation to amputate the leg, I was not fully sedated and I could feel each motion as the doctor cut through the bone with a saw. I was in hospital for about a month after the operation, all the while chained to my hospital bed. After the trial, I was taken to Thiba Camp in the Mwea. From there, I was transferred to Athi River and then onwards to Manyani. Life was unbearable in Manyani, where we lived like animals. It was more difficult for me as I was now disabled by virtue of having lost a leg. I remember an instance when we were all thrown into the camp cattle dip, which was filled with acaricides. I was not thrown into the dip but a bucket full of the acaricides was poured on me. For a person with one leg, this was the height of cruelty. The guards on many occasions confiscated my crutches as a form of punishment. When I refused to work on account of my disability, I would not be spared the severe beatings that were the norm for refusal to work.

Jane Muthoni Mara

I was born in Embu District. We were five in my family, though an elder sister died, leaving four. My father died and we were left to be cared for by our mother. In 1954, when I was about 15 years old, I was arrested at home after being betrayed as a Mau Mau scout. I was taken to Gatithi Screening Camp in Kiini Location of Ndia Division and accused of supplying the Mau Mau with food. At the camp, my interrogators beat me with gun butts under the supervision of a short bald-headed white DO nicknamed Waikanja and told us they would kill us. Waikanja ordered an African home guard by the name of Edward to insert a bottle into my private parts. I will never forget this sexual invasion and torture. The insertion of the bottles in my private parts was intended to induce me into revealing what I knew about Mau Mau. For older women, the soldiers would use 750ml bottles, while for younger girls like me they used smaller 300ml soda bottles. In my case, the bottle was filled with hot water and then pushed by Edward into my private parts with his foot. I hear that Edward is still alive. I knew him. He was from my home area.

Wambugu wa Nyingi alias Kagotho

I was born in 1928 in Nyeri District. I was arrested on 11 December 1952, having been accused of having taken the Mau Mau oath. I was taken to a screening camp called Kia Riowa in Aguthi, near Muthinga. We were repeatedly beaten at this place in order for us to confess, or ‘vomit’ the oath, which the detainees had denied knowledge of. From the screening camp, I was brought to Nairobi to a place unknown to me, and then to Athi River Camp. I then went to Manyani Camp where at times, we would clean the buckets used to carry human faeces with sand and then use them to fetch drinking water. At Hola Closed Camp, where I stayed for three months, I was a witness and victim of the infamous Hola massacre. I was hit on the lower back of the head around the neck until I passed out. All the 11 were killed with clubs, and no firearms were used. I lost my friend, Migwe Ndegwa and a Turkana detainee. I lay unconscious with the 11 corpses for three days at a room where the corpses had been placed awaiting burial. I was taken to the hospital at Hola by a European doctor. The hospital was outside the closed camp. I stayed at the hospital for one week and I was then taken back to the closed camp. An inquest was opened and we would normally go to testify at a court near Nyali. I gave evidence for three hours.

Njeru Mugo alias Mortar, Major Mugo

I was in Embu District in 1933 and was a member of the Mau Mau. I was nabbed towards the end of 1952. I was taken to the Langata Screening Center. At the camp we were beaten severely and I still have the scars from that beating especially on my head, nose and loins. We would be tied up with bowstrings round our hands so tightly that the strings were cutting our hands. I felt and still feel numb and very weak from the wrists to the palms. One day, three of us (including myself) were beaten very badly because we had not completed digging our one acre length canals. They beat us until my whole body was in pain. We were beaten for about two hours. In July 1956, I was taken to Manyani Detention Camp in Coast Province with 49 others. At Manyani, we were received by a prison warden. Upon arrival, we were forcibly pushed into a cattle dip, which had pesticides. There were no cattle at Manyani and the dip was purposely constructed for people. Our skin became itchy and scratchy.

Espon Makanga

I was born in 1928 in Embu District and joined the Mau Mau in November 1952. I was arrested in 1954. At the Thika Detention Camp, I was a victim of excessive beatings. At Manyani, I recall being brutally disinfected in a cattle dip. Like cattle and under beatings, we were forced by at least two officers into the dip with all our belongings. This exercise was supervised by a white officer we called ‘Kiuga’. He wore khaki shorts, long stockings and a bush coat. The disinfectant was extremely powerful and I remember swallowing quantities of it due to the manner in which we were thrown into the dip. It was a terrifying experience, as one did not know how deep this dip was or what the liquid itself was made of, and you just had to leap in, surrounded by camp guards busy unleashing blows on us. On reaching the end of the dip, there would be more guards waiting with sticks to rain blows on us. Due to the manner in which it was done, those who were unlucky and swallowed too much of the disinfectant suffered bloated stomachs and severe pain. We also received some injections (word had it that these injections were meant to reduce our libidos). The syringe was large like the one used for injecting livestock. The injection left one weak, yet despite this, we were forced straightaway to perform hard labour.

Kariuki Mungai

I was born in Kiambu District. On 5 May 1954, I was arrested in during Operation Anvil. I was then put in a train and transported to Manyani Camp under heavy armed guard. At Manyani, the reception was frosty the next day. We had to be disinfected forcefully in a cattle dip, just as cows are. I was also injected with a substance I did not know. We suspected it was meant to kill our libido and it seemed to be true because we never had erections there. At Manyani, a white officer nicknamed ‘Mapiga’ hit me with a baton on the back of the head after news had come that some detainees had tried to escape. I fell down and lost consciousness from the impact of the blow. I was unable to move around for a week and was helped by fellow inmates who would mop my injured head until I recovered. Manyani was a place in which I was forced to perform one of the most dehumanising jobs possible. The sanitation system was the open bucket system, where inmates defecated and urinated into open buckets. I was among those tasked to carry this human waste in buckets upon our heads. The buckets would be overflowing with human faeces and urine, which would get into our faces and even pour on our heads as we went to empty the buckets. We would then wash these buckets and get disinfected. The hard labour, which included breaking stones with a 10 kilogram mallet, was supervised by a white officer nicknamed ‘Kiuga’, who would also supervise incessant beatings throughout the day.

M’Mwenda Kiaria

I was born in 1920 in Meru Meru North District, and I joined the Mau Mau in 1952. I was arrested during the emergency and taken to the Lang’ata Screening Centre. At Lang’ata, we were confronted by white Kenyan regiment officers who beat us with clubs as we disembarked from the lorry, and 16 of us were killed on the spot. Every night we would be counted seven times so that one hardly slept. At Lang’ata, the officers would pick out strong young men among us then take them to a home guard woman called Wanjiru who would expose her private parts provocatively and if one got an erection he was rounded up by a group of six officers and castrated. I was then taken to Manyani where there was a white officer nicknamed ‘Mapiga’ who was in charge of the Detention Camp. We were stripped naked and then given yellow uniforms. Later we were forced into the cattle dip with our clothes, blankets and utensils. There was a short stocky white officer with strong hands who would wait by the dip to rescue those drowning and once he pulled you out he would step on your stomach to force out the water through the mouth or anus. He was nicknamed ‘Ndururu’. On one occasion, Mapiga double slapped me so hard I lost proper hearing.

M’Mugambi M’Arungai

I am 72 years old, from Meru North District. I was arrested in 1952 and taken to Lang’ata camp. In November 1953, together with about 250 other detainees, I was moved to Manyani by train. At Manyani, we were routinely beaten by a white man nicknamed ‘Gateru’. I was removed from Manyani in December 1954 and taken back to Lang’ata. At Lang’ata we were again subjected to routine beatings by white officers. However, we never worked at Lang’ata. The officers I remember who were at Liliaba were Gateru, Major Ali and one Yusuf. The screeners from the Meru community included surrenders like the late former minister Jackson Harvester Angaine. Angaine was the head of African Screeners. At Liliaba we only did cultivation of food crops for ourselves/detainees. I stayed at Liliaba from 1955 to 1957 when I was transferred to Kebo Screening Camp in Meru.

M’Mucheke Mucheke Kioru

I was born in Meru District in 1931. I was arrested in the morning of 24 April 1954 during Operation Anvil. I was taken to Lang’ata Screening Centre in Nairobi where we lived in tents. We were welcomed with beatings by home guards and white officers at Lang’ata. We were then moved to Manyani Detention Centre. At Manyani, we were ordered to pick all our stuff and utensils and forced into the cattle dip. The floor of the cells had a mixture of sand and thorns. During the night, as we were sorting out thorns from the sand, scorpions and snakes were popping out. We used to kill the snakes and scorpions with our bare hands and feet. In Compound Six at Manyani, I encountered one Tanzanian officer called ‘Wagithundia’, who tortured me for a week by beating me with kicks and the baton. He ordered me to lie down with my face down and severely beat me on all over my back from the lower spinal cord. I was beaten until sperms were coming out of my penis like a stream. I believe this is when I lost ability to have children. I had been married initially and had a daughter.

* The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) is based in Nairobi. For more information about the Mau Mau reparations campaign, please contact L. Muthoni Wanyeki or Mikewa Ogada.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.