Jomo Kenyatta and the repression of the ‘last’ Mau Mau leaders, 1961–1965

Around the time of independence (1961–1965), Kenya’s African nationalist government organized the continued repression of the remaining Mau Mau fighters who had refused to surrender after the ending of the Emergency in January 1960. This article focuses on Meru district, in Eastern Province, where Mau Mau fighters gathered under the leadership of Field Marshalls Mwariama and Baimungi. Documents from the Kenyan National Archives, in particular the correspondence of the provincial administration and security reports, show that politicians and officials alike saw the remaining fighters in Meru as a potent political threat to the nationalist government of Jomo Kenyatta. Kenya’s government sought to deal with the Mau Mau threat by co-opting its leaders, while Kenyatta carefully distanced the presidency from the government’s choice of repressive politics. A symbolic propaganda campaign was organized to maintain the myth that Kenyatta had always been the Mau Mau leader the British arrested and jailed in 1953, despite the reality of Kenyatta’s repeated denunciation of the movement. After 1963, the President continued to ignore Mau Mau fighters’ fundamental claims over land redistribution. This article shows that the Mau Mau were not simply ‘forgotten’, and uncovers the role of the military and the silent tactics of repression organized by the Kenyan independent government.