Man, 90, cries foul for being ‘forgotten’ as freedom fighter

On the slopes of Kiambogo Hills in Gilgil, Nakuru county, sits the shrubby Kahuho village.

It is home to peasant farmers who eke out a living tilling tiny plots, but mostly doing odd jobs for the wealthier among them.  

It is also home to Timothy Waithaka, a “forgotten freedom fighter” who sacrificed his prime years for the independence struggle more than five decades ago. He still possesses resilience that he says has kept him alive. 

At 90, Waithaka’s health has deteriorated due to old age and the torture he underwent during his incarceration at different prisons within the country, however, his eyesight is still strong though his memory is failing him. 

Still fighting

However, one thing is still clear in his mind: his contributions to free Kenyans from colonialism bore fruits, to which the citizens currently enjoy. 

Waithaka said his decision to join other natives was to demand their land back from the colonisers, equality and political freedom. 

Mainly located in the thick forests and caves of Central Kenya, Waithaka recalls they started guerrilla warfare at the heart of the land they had a blue print of.  

With this advantage, he said they eliminated a number of their oppressors as they forced the British government into granting Kenya independence.  

However more than five decades later, Kenya’s heroes are still fighting a battle, with the remaining, now bent with age and their lives full of disappointment. 

Born in Othaya, Nyeri county in 1930, Waithaka joined school until Standard Seven before dropping out and relocating to Rift Valley in 1945, before joining the movement. 

Working as a cook for the white settlers, Waithaka said he was later arrested and detained in 1952, after the British rulers declared a state of emergency, as they tried to crush the uprising, staged by the Mau Mau fighters. 

He recalls that they were put in groups as the colonisers tried to establish those who had already taken oath, administered by the Mau Mau to fight the British government. 

According to Waithaka, after denying having taken the oath, his journey from one prison to another began, as he was incarcerated at the Nakuru GK Prison and later at Manyani Prison, classified as hardcore criminals. 

Oath administration 

He said some of the British sympathisers were being used to identify those who had already taken the oath, adding that they arrived at prisons while covered in masks to hide their identity. 

Waithaka noted that at the prison, they were tortured and beaten up to reveal other accomplices, adding that he developed a head tumor; which affected his health. 

After nearly five years behind bars, Waithaka was released in 1957 adding that his journey back home to Othaya, was filled with tears and sorrow, as he found out that his father and brother had already been murdered by the colonisers. 

According to him, his family was terrorised after his arrest on claims that they were also part of oath administration to locals in the area. 

“We are  still struggling to get recognition from the country we helped get freedom, it is unfortunate that a number of us, have died without receiving any land as promised by the government,” said Waithaka.

His wife Grace Wanjohi, said their resolve to have the country’s independence was everyone’s agenda, adding that they used to take food to the Mau Mau fighters. 

She recalls that it was a mental torture seeing their loved ones being slaughtered by the roadside by the colonisers, whose aim was to instill fear. 

Wanjohi further noted that her husband suffered dearly during his incarceration at the prisons, adding that his current ill- health is as a result of the torture he underwent. 

She wants President Uhuru Kenyatta to fulfill his father’s wish of constructing them roads in the area.

“As we mark this year’s Mashujaa Day, we need the government to keep their promises and ensure that all those who fought for the country’s independence are recognised and taken care of,” she said.