Title: Mau Mau Experience In British Colonial And Post Colonial Kenya
Authors: Amon Rimamtanung Stephen, Hussaina Sani, Isa Jauro, Augustine Raymond Lkama
Volume: 9
Issue: 4
Pages: 569-574
Publication Date: 2025/04/28
Abstract:
The Mau Mau Uprising is a revolt against colonial rule in Kenya, lasted from 1952 through 1960 and helped to hasten Kenya's independence. Issues like the expulsion of Kikuyu tenants from settler farms, loss of land to white settlers, poverty, and lack of true political representation for Africans provided the impetus for the revolt. During the eight-years uprising, 32 white settlers and about 200 British police and army soldiers were killed. Over 1,800 African civilians were killed and some put the number of Mau Mau rebels killed at around 20,000. Although the Uprising was directed primarily against British colonial forces and the white settler community, much of the violence took place between rebel and loyalist Africans. Detention camps were a cornerstone of the British strategy to suppress the uprising. Notoriously, Hola Camp became a symbol of the extreme brutality inflicted upon detainees. These camps bore witness to heinous acts of torture and abuse. Men, women, and children were subjected to barbaric methods of interrogation, including beatings, floggings, and electric shocks. The repercussions of such treatment were often severe, leading to lasting physical and psychological damage, and in many cases, death. After Kenya independence, Jomo Kenyatta the first President of Kenya, did not suggest any substantial change in the colonial structures, rather he continued treating Mau Mau as a rebels and he refuses to address the land alienated problems