Senior Chief Waruhiu was "probably the only individual I encountered in Africa," according to Negley Parson, "in whom I believed the teaching of Christianity had fully accomplished its purpose." Senior Chief Waruhiu, a stylish dresser with a chauffeured sedan in the 1950s, was highly regarded by the colonial authority.
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He put a lot of effort into moving his Kiambu district forward, which earned him various accolades and prizes.
- Chief Waruhiu wa Kungu Biography
- Senior Chief Waruhiu Early Days and Employment.
- Waruhiu as Senior Chief
- The Assassination of Senior Chief Waruhiu
- Senior Chief Waruhiu Assassins
- Senior Chief Waruhiu Death Conspiracy
- The Prosecution and Murder Trial of the Suspects
- Senior Chief Waruhiu Funeral
- More MAU MAU Assassinations after Chief Waruhiu Death
Chief Waruhiu wa Kungu Biography
First, the King of England awarded him the Certificate of Honor in 1930 for his exceptional abilities. Second, in 1935, Senior Chief Waruhiu received the Jubilee Medal, and third, in 1936, he was awarded the King's Medal for African Chiefs in honor of his dedication to serving his neighborhood. Fourth, the Coronation Medal in 1937, and last, the Member of the British Empire Medal (MBE) in 1951 for his extraordinary merit and administrative prowess.
Senior Chief Waruhiu Early Days and Employment.
Senior Chief Waruhiu wa Kung’u was raised in the squalor and famine of Kimathi, a small village located halfway between Ruiru and Githunguri. His father, Kung'u, had left his first two wives behind at their home in Gatanga, Murang'a, in order to find a new place to live. He chose Kimathi village because one of its sons was married to his older sister, who welcomed him while he looked for other things to accomplish.
The latter two decades of the 19th century were difficult, to put it mildly. There were periodic epidemics that affected both people and animals, leaving little but death and starvation in their aftermath. Then conflicts erupted over the scant resources that were still available. Add starvation and drought to that list.
Kung'u got married to another wife named Njoki, Only two of their five children—who were born over the course of the following nine years—survived. Their first child was Kimani nicknamed Toro (which means sleep in Kikuyu) because of his fondness of sleeping. Waruhiu, the second child, was the lad on whose fate the future of this family would depend
When a second famine struck in 1899, Kung'u made the decision to return to Gatanga and reconstruct the house he had abandoned ten years earlier. He went with his younger son Waruhiu, but the older man passed away after collapsing from starvation after passing Gatundu. Waruhiu was a young child who had just turned ten. At that young age, Waruhiu was left alone to return home after leaving his farther corpse where it lay.
Njoki, who was left on his own with two small boys, found a place to call home in the newest Kambui missionary group. Waruhiu was eager to study whatever he could, and Toro quickly distinguished himself owing to his devotion. The family flourished in their new house.
Having barely become 20 years old, Waruhiu married Wanjiru Gathenge in 1910. His life appeared to be predestined for missionary activity, but the ten years that lay ahead would alter that. He lost his older brother Toro three years later to illness. Now, Njoki just had one son left, and two short years later, even when Waruhiu developed elephantiasis. He spent three months in the hospital for effective medical care.
Waruhiu then made a hasty exit from the Gatanga and started working in a military hospital in Mazeras, contributing to the World War I effort. After cheating on his wife, Waruhiu was later excommunicated by the church in 1919.
Senior Chief Waruhiu Employment
The church and mission had been Waruhiu's life and livelihood before the conflict. It provided him with employment and social stature. It should have battered him into shape, but being shunned by it had a different effect.
Waruhiu started working as a farm clerk to pass the time and provide for his growing family. On the side, he worked as a clerk for Waweru Kanja, a chief who was his maternal uncle. Waweru was a colonial chief who stood for a generation that was passing away as the world recovered from World War I.
Chief Waweru Kanja had been made chief in 1903 because his older brother was too old. He outlived his usefulness throughout the war because he was unprepared, uninterested, and a big drinker. His generation's hand-selected, illiterate men were no longer able to uphold the objectives of the British Empire. Waruhiu was one of the younger men who realized this.
Waruhiu came to the conclusion that usurping his uncle was the only way to achieve control. His method was brilliant and vicious, resulting in several fatalities and enduring rivalries.
Waruhiu initially enlisted in a small cabal of primarily younger men who were vying to succeed the older chiefs. They went by the name "Kikuyu Association" (not to be confused with the official Young Kikuyu Association of June 1921). Both missionaries and some more senior chiefs supported them. Future household names like James Gichuru, Josiah Njonjo, and Koinange Mbiyu were among them. Koinange, a former porter, stood out among the gang despite being older than they were.
Together, these men started a number of focused initiatives, such as one in 1919 to mandate burials. Even though it was common to choose one location to utilize as a burial ground, they hadn't been up until that time. Waruhiu led an internal sabotage effort while his friends relied solely on diplomacy and subtle technique.
Waruhiu, who served as Waweru Kanja's personal assistant, clerk, and interpreter, made him appear even more ineffective than he really was by tampering with facts and schedules. After that, Waruhiu had the ideal opportunity in 1921 thanks to the bubonic plague. He gathered people to kill rats, and then he frequently rode his bike all the way to the district headquarters to show the district commissioner the results—a collection of rat tails knotted together. His willingness to go above and above to complete the task was made very evident.
However, getting rid of Kanja was simple; finding a replacement was more difficult, if not first impossible.
Parentage was the issue. Children are considered to be members of their father's clan. That indicated that Waruhiu did not belong to his in-laws, the Gathirimus in Ruiru, but rather to Kung'u's clan back in Gatanga. In fact, they had a man named Makimei Mugwe as a replacement for Kanja. However, he was also uneducated and seen as a bad leader.
The next most enticing choice was Harry Thuku, Waruhiu's maternal cousin, who was already on his way to becoming a legend despite the fact that there were other possibilities. With the exception of the fact that Harry Thuku was a known rebel with a prior two-year conviction for cheque fraud, Waruhiu and Harry Thuku nearly matched each other strength for strength. The difference between Thuku and Waruhiu was the deciding factor, though.
Harry Thuku recognized the chance and started a propaganda campaign against Waruhiu. He established a fundraising to sue the government and had a newspaper run the story. In response, Waruhiu launched onto a deliberate plan to shrink Harry Thuku by having him deported.
When the fight against Harry Thuku got underway on February 13th, 1922, there were many players involved, and Waruhiu was just one of them. They pushed for his deportation and won when he was finally taken into custody on March 14, 1922. That set off the chain of events that resulted in Muthoni Nyanjiru's death and the slaughter at Kingsway (Central) Police Station. [LINK]
Harry Thuku was one of the early political figures in Kenya, although his prominence waned in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a voice in the distance by independence, a farmer with little influence in politics.
At age 32, Waruhiu finally fully succeeded his uncle. He was now in charge of 1,663 individuals and was paid 50 shillings each month.
Waruhiu was about to set a higher standard if he had already been brutal and opportunistic thus far. As his influence increased, he wed four additional wives, two of whom he married within 10 days of one another.
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Waruhiu as Senior Chief
Senior Chief Waruhiu was a lifelong abstainer from alcohol, and it seemed that his main desires were for wealth and power. The young man's route to power was opened up by a simple suspension for cheating on his wife, and he wouldn't stop until he had it all. In addition to becoming the senior chief, he would also hold the positions of divisional chief and locational chief by the time of his death, something no one before or after him would ever do.
A battered paperback copy of the book was placed prominently next to the bible on Senior Chief Waruhiu’s book shelf. It in many ways encapsulated the management style that the young chief would employ for the following three decades. Like Booker T. Washington, he did not believe that a radical solution was necessary. However, not everyone in his social circles was in agreement.
Senior Chief Waruhiu increased the boundaries of his territory and his authority during the first eight years of his administration. He organized the merger of both locations in 1926 and was given 10 days to leave by his hosts in Ngenia. However, Senior Chief Waruhiu now had greater influence and was paid 65 shillings each week. He continued to demonstrate his indomitable spirit by purchasing his own land and constructing a house.
Koinange Mbiyu, one of his allies from the 1919 power grab, was made Senior Chief in 1930. Over the ensuing 20 years, their friendship broke down. Their biggest conflict was over ideologies; Waruhiu saw Kenya's future as one of continuing exploitation, while Koinange became more and more violent. Within three years of Waruhiu succeeding Koinange as Senior Chief in 1949, the division would be so severe that one of them would be lying in a casket and the other would be facing charges of murder.
Early career decisions made by Senior Chief Waruhiu influenced the path of his life and, ultimately, led to his demise. For instance, Senior Chief Waruhiu participated in a land tribunal in Gachie around the start of the 1930s. The Athi originally owned the land on the Kiambu side, but the Kikuyu displaced them through property buyouts, wars, and intermarried couples. Mbari ya Tukui, one of the Athi clans, made Mbari ya Kihara return 600 acres of its territory. Instead of the 600 acres, the tribunal gave them 320 acres. For a brief period, it looked to be resolved after that.
Twenty or so years later, the murder of Senior Chief Waruhiu took place during an appeal in the case. He had been a power-hungry divisional chief in the first instance. He was the most senior chief in the Kiambu District according to the court petition.
The Assassination of Senior Chief Waruhiu
Approximately speaking, the Senior Chief Waruhiu’s marked the pivotal moment in the quest for liberation. The colony experienced considerable terror after Mau Mau members assassinated Senior Chief Waruhiu wa Kungu of Kiambu on October 7, 1952. On October 20, a State of Emergency was proclaimed by Sir Evelyn Baring, who had only been governor for one month at that point. This sparked the American Revolution.
The vehicle honked and screeched to a stop after being startled. Gichiri Mbatia, the driver of the black Hudson, had just enough time to use the brakes before nearly colliding with the vehicle in front of him. The brown Ford Consul had suddenly materialized and had turned around to enter the constrained path.
Getting out of the Consul's front passenger side was a tall, lean man wearing a brown jacket and a scarf. He headed straight for the Hudson's back left passenger window. The man seated there was then asked, "Chief Waruhiu?" as he leaned slightly forward. The questioner skillfully removed a revolver from his jacket pocket before the older man (Senior Chief Waruhiu) could finish his response.
Then the assasins fired at Senior Chief Waruhiu, hitting him in the left-rear seat. Once via the mouth and the chest three times.
And once again, just to be safe, into his Hudson's front left tire.
The assasing turned around and entered his car without pausing to glance at the other three passengers. The driver suddenly stepped on the gas, swerved rapidly to the right toward Nairobi, and vanished.
October 7, 1952, marked the time. The highest-ranking Kenyan official in Kiambu District had just been shot at 12:48 p.m. Now that Senior Chief Waruhiu was lying down, his right foot was on the front seat, and his head was thrown back against the headrest. He was bleeding across his stylish white shirt and pants with his mouth open and his eyes closed. He had not lost his beige hat.
The driver of Senior Chief Waruhiu saw another automobile was closely following him less than a minute before this daylight murder. The other car appeared to be impatient as he honked repeatedly and tried to yell at him to move over. Two automobiles couldn't fit on the small, dusty road's potholes, though. Gichiri then turned right as the road split. The second vehicle made a sharp left turn and accelerated away.
The Senior Chief Waruhiu made a joke in the vehicle as he fixed his gaze on the other vehicle, "this is why I don't allow you drive my car alone."
The Senior Chief Waruhiu was riding in the car that afternoon with two other individuals in addition to his chauffeur Gichiri. As the gunfire erupted, Kiburi Thumbi, the person behind the shotgun, rushed across and unlocked the driver's door. He ejected the driver, who was in shock. Both of them fled and hid in the underbrush.
Kirichu, the man sat behind the Senior Chief Waruhiu, made an unsuccessful attempt to open his door. Then he conceded defeat and collapsed to the ground. Kirichu got out of the car to find himself alone as the Consul drove away. He returned home by foot, to Githunguri, and only then did he appear at the police station the following day. The two men returned to the scene of the murder to discover Senior Chief Waruhiu dead. They had been hiding in the bushes.
The only three witnesses to the murder that would change everything had only seen a little portion of it.
The Hudson used by Senior Chief Waruhiu was probably a second- or third-generation Hudson Terraplane sedan. It was a 1948 gift from settlers to him.
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Senior Chief Waruhiu Assassins
Just hours after it happened, the murder of Senior Chief Waruhiu Kung'u grabbed international headlines. It was discussed at Westminster and covered by several publications. The "excellent Kenyan citizen" Waruhiu was "a victim of his own people." It became the primary subject of a flurry of covert telegrams sent between Nairobi and London, depicting the seething social calamity of the country.
To find out who had done it, Detective Gerald Heine, a young, competent, but unsettlingly ambitious detective, was given the assignment. It was a challenging yet simple job in a country that had seen a few assassinations and attempts in the previous four years. There was typically only one suspect worth taking into account. "Mau Mau."
They knew who was responsible for whatever had transpired here. At least, that is what the detective believed as he examined the chief's body later that Tuesday afternoon.
Heine had a brown Ford Consul (KBM 902) hauled the next morning from a garage to Kingsway Police Station, which is now the Central Police Station on Harry Thuku Road. Since none of the witnesses had seen the getaway automobile's license plates, it is unclear how he made the connection between the car and the crime so quickly. They had all been focused on protecting themselves.
Ford UK built the Ford Consul between 1951 and 1956. The New Yorker's July 1951 issue contained this advertisement.
By October 1952, there were a sizable number in Kenya despite being just a year old.
A man named Waweru Kamundia came into the police station two days later to ask about the car. Waweru, who was raised in Othaya, Nyeri, was hired to drive the vehicle as a taxi. He was soon detained, and a few months later, he was accused of being the getaway driver in a murder. Even if he lacked motivation, he nevertheless offered the means.
On October 11, two days later, Heine and his coworker Coleman took a car to Kabete. They detained a store owner from Uthiru by the name of Gathuku Migwi. Gathuku loaded his store with goods like clothing. Gathuku was about to play the bad guy in this tale.
Gathuku was driven by the two investigators to Chief James Gichuru's residence in Ndeiya. After leaving him there for an hour, they again arrested him formally. On the way back, what occurred next is still a mystery. Gathuku suffered severe injuries and ended up in the hospital under suicide watch. The investigators asserted that he had leaped from the rear of the police vehicle. He had spent the entire time chained up and under the control of two constables.
This was not the first time the Senior Chief Waruhiu had been targeted, though it didn't matter at the time. In truth, Senior Chief Waruhiu had escaped numerous attempts at murder and arson, one of which had resulted in the death of one of his sons.
Just a few months before, while Senior Chief Waruhiu was sleeping, a spear had been thrown through his bedroom window. He threatened to shoot his assailants verbally when it became stuck in the netting in an effort to scare them off. Only he wasn't armed at the time, so it was a bluff.
The homes of two of his wives had been set on fire in 1939. (Senior Chief Waruhiu had five). They were both not home at the time. In the shadows outside his home, two assassins attacked one of his sons in the early 1940s with pangas. The young man was wounded seriously, yet he lived. at least temporarily. Later on, during a football game, he headed the ball. He collapsed in pain after that and passed away on the pitch.
Then, two months before to Senior Chief Waruhiu death, one of Waruhiu's wives' homes was set on fire. The cunning Senior Chief Waruhiu appeared to be unusually lucky, but he also had a lot of enemies.
A cryptic letter from the Mau Mau was followed by an arson attack in August 1952 before the cunning chief was eventually shocked. Senior Chief Waruhiu still asked for assistance from his superiors despite having a bodyguard, and they provided him with a.38 Smith & Wesson pistol, ammunition, and basic training. On that empty route from Gachie, that ought to have been sufficient to preserve his life.
However, that gun was in the glove box when Senior Chief Waruhiu was dying in the back seat. He had the ammo in his pocket. He was supposed to be shielded, but the man was biking on the opposite side of the slope.
Senior Chief Waruhiu Death Conspiracy
On that boring afternoon in 1952, whomever killed Senior Chief Waruhiu was waiting for him and knew exactly where he would be. This was strange because his death happened on the seventh, not the sixth, when the appeal was due. When he arrived, he discovered that a crucial file was missing. Senior Chief Waruhiu then instructed Gichiri, his driver for the day, to send a court agent to get it in Kiambu. It took ages to complete that task, and by the time they returned, it was too late. The trial was therefore postponed until Tuesday morning.
It had to be the ideal strategy. That and some mysterious good fortune. First, on October 6, when they departed for Gachie, Senior Chief Waruhiu 's customary chauffeur, William Gatoto, was nowhere to be seen. Gichiri, who usually serves as the turn boy, had to step in. Gatoto had been expected for some time, but his absence was never explained.
Senior Chief Waruhiu then made the decision to give his neighbor Kiburi Thumbi a ride when the hearing was over. He was killed as a result of that selfless deed. Kiburi's bicycle was the source of the issue. Constable Munai, the chief's bodyguard, was urged to cycle home rather than ride back with them.
He passed away in less than five minutes.
Gathuku Migwi admitted to killing Senior Chief Waruhiu a day after being detained and put on suicide watch. Waweru Kamundia said that he and two other guys had been driven there. He and Gathuku actually made two confessions, with each one being more in-depth than the last. Detective Heine stood outside the magistrate's door while the confessions were made.
Gathuku claimed that Mbiyu Koinange, the son of the late Senior Chief Koinange Mbiyu, had hired him for the position and given him a rifle and thirty shillings. In his initial admission, Waweru said that although he had been recruited to drive to the location, he had been threatened after it became clear that he was a getaway driver. His second confession was something he couldn't recall.
Mbiyu was about to find himself in the heart of a murder trial, despite having lost his first name of "John Wesley" only six months earlier. It was also related to his father in some way[LINK].
The Koinange Clan, at the time Kiambu's richest and most powerful family, was now involved in this story. The former Senior Chief was reportedly in charge of an expanding network of Mau Mau financiers, according to intelligence reports. He not only donated cash and supplies, but also allowed the freedom movement to utilize his house as a base of operations. The link between Senior Chief Waruhiu 's murder, the Koinanges, and the Mau Mau was clear after Gathuku's confession. Three Ford Consuls were among the Koinange family's fleet of vehicles.
So, Senior Chief Koinange, a retired chief, and two of his sons were swiftly taken into custody. After the release of one son, the father and the other son were discovered on the docks. They would live, but only barely.
The four admissions made thus far were obtained through violent interrogation and repeated torture. Gathuku was writhing on the floor of his solitary cell from a hemorrhage a week after the murder. He was tied to the floor and forced to lie on one side at all times since he was on suicide watch. Waweru was also severely assaulted; in fact, he lost consciousness as he was purportedly confessing to his second crime.
Around the same time, Mwangi Kamau, another driver, was also taken into custody. Mwangi made the error of hiring Mbiyu Koinange to drive him to Gathuku's shop in Kabete. He didn't know where his client went, but it didn't matter because Heine and Coleman beat him. They released him on October 24. A week later, he returned and filed a formal complaint on the torture.
On March 12th, 1953, before Justice de Lestang of the Supreme Court, the main trial commenced. 16 males in total were detained, but only nine were charged. The first six defendants in the dock, Koinange Mbiyu, Gitau Karani, Daniel Kung'u, Waira Kamau, Mwangi Mwacharia, and Gichuhi Kuria, pleaded not guilty to the allegation of conspiracy to commit murder. There was only one person who saw them at work, and she concocted a tale to prove they had met on October 4, 1952, at Jomo Kenyatta's house to plot the murder (Kenyatta and the Koinanges were in-laws). Because of the flimsy and inconclusive testimony, all six individuals were found not guilty.
They were later detained for the most of the following eight years after being taken into custody just outside the courthouse.
The Prosecution and Murder Trial of the Suspects
It was impossible for the three men who were left on the dock to differ. Young men from low-income families, Gathuku Migwi, a shopkeeper, and Waweru Kamundia, a taxi driver, battled to survive in a city that grew more and more unfriendly to them. Prior to the two families' feud, Mbiyu Koinange, from a privileged background, was even set to marry one of the deceased Senior Chief Waruhiu daughters.
The economic and social disparities in the major murder trial were considerably more evident. AR Kapila represented Gathuku while Jaswant Singh and Dudley Thompson stood up for Waweru Kamundia. His defense was handled separately by Mbiyu, under the direction of Dingle Foot, a British attorney and former lawmaker at the time. F Pearson supported the Solicitor-General EN Griffith Jones' prosecuting team.
Five months after the murder, in mid-March 1953, the government presented its defense. Jones suggested that the Ford Consul that had pursued the Hudson along Karura Road had sped up to the main highway and backed up to block the exit. That distance, 900 meters, required two revolutions, one of which was in reverse. It would have had to compete with a more powerful car while driving extremely quickly on a bumpy road.
Jones said, "The assassin and the getaway driver had confessed”. The driver had taken the assassin to Gachie, where they waited for the Hudson to leave the tribunal. The driver drove off to Nairobi after killing their victim with a single shot. Following that, they went to Kiburi House on River Road and hid the gun there. In this case, Mbiyu had not only supplied the pistol but may also have been present in the automobile during the murder.
Never was the murder weapon discovered. It also never became a problem.
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Senior Chief Waruhiu Funeral
Six pall bearers made their way to the grave site while carrying Senior Chief Waruhiu's coffin, which was covered in the Union Jack. Two white priests stood behind them, followed by a group of black and white priests. The entire government appeared to be nearby, followed by a group of individuals led by four of Wanjiru's wives (Wanjiru had passed away in February 1950) and his children.
The police band plays at the funeral after marching. The police band's music accompanied the parade as it moved through the beautiful banana plantation.
The villain he had heard so much about, Jomo Kenyatta, was introduced to Kenya's new governor, Sir Evelyn Baring, at the graveyard. It was their first and only meeting for the following 13 years, but it had an inconceivable impact on both the men and the nation.
Baring sent the first of many telegrams to his supervisors in London shortly after Senior Chief Waruhiu passed away, warning them that he was "facing a planned revolutionary movement." Even more so than they had all anticipated, the situation in his new position was untenable. His predecessor had slyly declined to inform him of the coming storm, choosing instead to quietly go and let someone else deal with the mess.
Baring didn't realize that he had entered a situation that had been in the works for half a decade until he was less than two weeks into his position. A disenfranchised people on one side was ruled by law and poverty. The privileged minority was on the other, trying to make a small nation out of this new area. The bridge between the two was supposed to be represented by men like Senior Chief Waruhiu.
But before that October afternoon, that bridge had grown more unstable during the preceding months and years. The bubbling had developed into a chorus, which later evolved into war chants.
Baring fiercely gripped his hat in his left hand as Senior Chief Waruhiu 's wooden coffin descended into the grave. Just two days had passed since the murder, but he was impatient no more. Nearly half of the people he needed to detain here, directly across from him, in order to control the mayhem he had inherited were present. Or so he believed.
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More MAU MAU Assassinations after Chief Waruhiu Death
The Mau Mau killed Senior Chief Waruhiu, which is now clear. It has been unopposed for more than 60 years and is the position in historical documents and literature. However, there is no evidence to support this. None at least that can be verified.
The killings of Senior Chief Waruhiu and Nderi were "part of a plan to assassinate all top chiefs, priests, and other government workers between October and December 1952," according to H. Kahinga Wachanga in The Swords of Kirinyaga (1975). Wachanga, a former senior-ranking Mau Mau member, was well-placed enough to be aware of such a scheme. Nevertheless, the sentences that come following that indicate that the story is hazy. Three Kenyan men dressed in colonial police costumes flagged down Waruhiu's driver in this narrative, which is also in Caroline Elkins' British Gulag book.
Wachanga also claims that Senior Chief Waruhiu 's money and gun were stolen by the assassin, although this is incorrect. Wachanga describes the killing of Nderi as a well-planned assassination and says that the chief was shot and killed. He was killed with a hacksaw, and the Mau Mau claimed responsibility. In actuality, Stanley Mathenge and Dedan Kimathi were among the individuals that attacked and killed the powerful chief.
Around the same period, several more men passed away. The most well-known is another chief from Nyeri named Nderi Wang'ombe. Just two weeks after the Kiambu Chief was killed, a group of recruits led by Dedan Kimathi killed him by hacking him to death.
Then there were the murders of Tom Mbotela and Ambrose Ofafa, two members of the municipal council, and the attempted murder of Muchohi Gikonyo, a third. According to at least one recent book, Mbotela was assassinated because he was supposed to be the key witness in Kenyatta's trial, a position that ultimately went to a perjurer named Rawson Macharia.
An alternative story of a settler group that was so committed to sowing discord that it was murdering influential people to sow unrest developed in each of these cases. As a militia force with limited resources, the Mau Mau made sure to claim credit for every murder and mission. The Night of the Long Knives, when they ravaged Lari and killed out entire families, serves as a wonderful illustration of this. See Lari Massacre [LINK]
Local politics and resentments persisted, nevertheless. Senior Chief Kasina Ndoo of the Kitui tribe was attacked and had his hands amputated in 1953. He was a cruel, greedy guy who displayed his allegiance by hanging the Union Jack from his house, but the villagers whose land and fortune he was actively taking were blamed for his attack instead of the Mau Mau.
Agikuyu (1890–1965) by Maina wa Kinyatti, another important source, makes an effort to provide some background information. In it, Maina asserts that the Mau Mau Central Committee assigned Enoch Mwangi to carry out Senior Chief Waruhiu 's slaying. Mwangi would have been in charge of logistics as he was Nairobi's top commander. He lived through the terrible 1950s, but there is no evidence that he ever verified this specific account.
Who, then, would have assassinated the senior chief if not Gathuku Migwi?
According to Samuel Waruhiu in Corridors of British Colonial Injustice, the settlers were the most likely suspects. They were motivated to do it and had the means to achieve it. The goal was to declare a three-month state of emergency (which lasted eight years) and provide the White Highlands some kind of independence.
At this point, every other strategy had failed, including negotiations and town halls. They couldn't allow Baring take a break, and they made sure that the less he knew about the issue, the easier it would be to control him. They required a smoking gun, or at the very least its outcome, to serve as a focal point for arguing their case.
They would have made sure someone else perished for it while maintaining the lie that it was the Mau Mau if they had the means and the desire to do so. If it was them, the strategy was a complete success. Baring proclaimed a state of emergency, detained Kenyatta, expelled the Kikuyus from Nairobi, and started clearing the jungles where the resistance members were hiding. But it didn't succeed in achieving their main goal, which was independence.
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