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Abstract
This article is a meditation on the nature of commemoration in a period of renewed interest in the concept of ‘national history’ in Kenya just prior to and during the 2007 election campaigns and the violence which erupted in its wake.Footnote1 I am interested in the extent to which commemorative initiatives, while often promoted (as in this case) as inclusive nation-building exercises, ultimately highlight the intractability of certain divisions. The article focuses on the commissioning of the first statue to a Mau Mau leader since President Mwai Kibaki's unbanning, in September 2003, of the guerrilla movement, which many historians consider to be a major force responsible for the country's liberation from the clutches of British colonialism. I want to suggest that the statue of Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi Wachiuri, unveiled on 18 February 2007, on the 50th anniversary of his execution by the British, becomes the conduit for the circulation of competing debates around the nature of history writing, the concept of national memory, the ideal of patriotism and the establishment of criteria to identify heroes and heroines as role models for the next generation. The commission is at the centre of a fraught discussion in the media concerning the question of who might merit the title of national hero or heroine and emerges at a time when the figure of Kimathi for one reason or another is susceptible to appropriation by a number of competing and often incompatible causes.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to John Lonsdale and Dan Branch for generously commenting on an earlier draft of this article. Any errors or omissions are mine.
Notes
This article is part of a longer chapter on monuments and memory in Kenya in the volume: Managing Heritage, Making Peace (Coombes, Hughes and Karega-Munene, CitationForthcoming). This version includes other illustrations which African Studies could not accommodate.
Coombes Citation2003, chapter 2 focuses on the transformation of Robben Island into a world heritage site and the grievances of the ex-political prisoners.
‘Freedom fighters deserve nothing short of a pension’, K. Muturi The Standard 24 October 2006:14.
‘Memories of suffering bring Oneko to tears’, M. Mwanzia The Sunday Standard 13 August 2006:3.
Ibid.
Editorial Sunday Standard 25 March 2007.
TNHH (unpublished) recommends the government provide a lump sum for veterans in financial straits and funeral expenses for impoverished veterans. The document also proposed that a mausoleum be built for Kisoi Munyao:24. Wycliffe Oloo and Julius Ogega (2008:21) mention that Kisoi Munyao's mausoleum was opened on 22 December 2007 in Makueni District.
Thanks to Dan Branch for pointing this out to me.
A case in point was the 2009 claim made by Mau Mau veterans against the British government for reparations for torture they suffered during the Sate of Emergency (1952–1960). A number of cross-party British MPs supported the setting up of a welfare fund for those affected by the violence ‘to help the alleged victims through old age’ (The Guardian 25 January 2010:9).
Editorial Daily Nation 19 February 2007.
Ibid.
People on Sunday Magazine 18 February 2007.
The Standard 19, 26 December 2005, 2, 9, 16, 23 January 2006.
Clough (2003:261) points to John Lonsdale's use of the term ‘moral ethnicity’ (as distinct from moral authority) specifically as a way of diffusing any problematic ethnic particularism that might arise from the historical bias of primarily (but not uniquely) Kikuyu engagement in Mau Mau. He argues that recognition of ‘moral ethnicity’, one of which conditions is that leadership or power has a moral duty to be coupled with virtue, is a quality which would be recognised and valued by most Kenyans throughout the country – not just Kikuyu.
Thanks to John Lonsdale who shared this information with me after we had attended the veterans' meeting at SOAS.
The members of the official taskforce were: Prof Vincent Simiyu (chair), Prof Peter Wanyande (vice chair), Barua B. Chele, Bashir Sheikh Mohamed, James R. Kangwana, George M. Kirigia, Dr Philomena N. Mwaura, Julius Okara, Dr Joseph Ngatia and Marykaren C. Kigen (all members) with Dr Mzalendo Kibunjia (secretary), Mrs Alice K. Mayaka, Mrs Rachel B. Dzombo and Dorothy N. Angote (all ex-officio members).
The Standard 2 May 2007:14 publicises the website, www.heroesheroines.or.ke
Suleiman Shakombo cited in The Standard 13 October 2006. In The Standard 10 April 2006:11 Mzalendo Kibunjia, then NMK Director of National Sites and Monuments states that Kibaki was insistent that the category of heroes and heroines included the ‘little-known people in the village who did something heroic, but are away from [the] public domain’.
The Standard 13 April 2007:17. For examples of Muthoni Thang'wa's column see ‘Set criteria to separate heroes from pretenders’ The Standard 4 April 2007:6; ‘Who will speak for heroes who die wealthy?’ 11 April 2007:6; ‘Politics has no place in selecting our heroes’ 21 November 2007:6.
Msanii 2007; Jahazi 2007. Thanks to Donald Kuira Maingi for sharing his copies.
See the proceedings from the Institute of Historical Research (University of London) conference ‘History and the Public’ for debates concerning the value of public history available at [email protected]
See in particular my discussion of the exhibition ‘Miscast’ at the South African National Gallery. Despite provoking considerable controversy it generated opportunities for competing Khoi San representatives to voice many concerns including about land claims.
The Standard 11 December 2006:25.
See Larsen Citation(2007) for an account of the changing fortunes of Nairobi's monuments.
Editorial The Sunday Standard 25 March 2007.
The East African 19–25 October 2009.
‘Nairobi's Nameless Monument’, J. Kamau The Sunday Standard 2 July 2006:19.
Ibid.
Letters The Standard 10 July 2007:14. This contains a request for a statue of Tom Mboya in recognition of his role in Kenyan independence. This is being erected on Nairobi's Mboya Street.
The Standard 22 December 2006:5.
Ibid.
The Standard 11 December 2006:24.
Sunday Nation 19 February 2006.
Daily Nation 13 December 2006:14.
It is also attributed to Dolores Ibárruri (known as ‘La Pasionaria’) the Communist Party leader who inspired many to fight for the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War. The phrase has also been attributed to the leader of the 1910 Mexican revolution, Emiliano Zapata Salazar, a fact cited in the letters section of The Standard 20 February 2007:14. The tee-shirt company was founded in 2007 aimed at promoting ‘… pride and appreciation of everything African. The collection includes “One Nation One People” – a design that was created because of the violence in the 2007 presidential election in Kenya’. See www.rumplo.com/people/person/tmwicigi (accessed July 2010).
Editorial, B. Mwaura Jahazi 2007 2(1):2.
Unpublished speech by His Excellency Hon Mwai Kibaki, CGH, MP, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya on the Occasion of Unveiling the Dedan Kimathi Memorial Statue, Kimathi Street, Nairobi, 18 February 2007:2.
Daily Nation 19 February 2007:2.
Ibid.
Kenya Times 19 February 2007:1. See also The People 19 February 2007:1; The Nation 19 February 2007:4.
‘Kimathi back to haunt Michuki’, G. Mathenge and B. Gikandi The Sunday Standard 25 February 2007:17–8.
‘Mau Mau sculpture the State wouldn't accept’, J. Koigi Saturday Nation 24 February 2007:29, 32; ‘Honouring National Heroes’, T. Hirst Jahazi 2007 2(1):3–6.
NMK Kimathi file, letter from Dr Idle O. Farah, Director General to Professor Olive M. Mugenda, Vice-Chancellor, Kenyatta University, ‘The National Museum of Kenya has no objection to your placing a small caption at an appropriate place at the statue acknowledging the university's contribution. As you have indicated, the caption will only indicate Kenyatta University and not individual artists.’
See for example The Standard 11 December 2006.
Annie E. Coombes interview with Kevin Oduor at Kuona Arts Trust, Nairobi, 30 January 2010.
The Standard 24 February 2007:7 of ‘Moments’ the paper's entertainment, arts and culture magazine. Oduor was concerned about the university's reluctance publicly to acknowledge his role. Annie E. Coombes discussion with Kevin Oduor at GoDown Arts Centre, Nairobi, 31 January 2010.
