I do not regret fighting for this country: Muthoni Kirima

Field Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima is among the few surviving female Mau Mau freedom fighters.

We embarked on the 150km journey from Nairobi to Nyeri on a mission to trace two female Mau Mau war veterans who share a name: Field Marshal Muthoni and Mama Miriam Muthoni Mathenge, the widow of Mau Mau veteran General Stanley Mathenge wa Mirugi, who went missing.

The road leading to Kirima’s house in Pembe Tatu, a fairly decent estate within Nyeri Town, was quite accessible.

However, we could not access Mathenge’s house as the road leading to her residence in Labura Village, Mweiga, was freshly excavated and there was a trench filled with water that made it impassable.

Mrs Mathenge was in the news recently urging the county government to fix the impassable road to enable her get to hospital.

RESISTING OPPRESSION

Ms Kirima, who isn’t sure of her exact year of birth, says she was born around 1930 in Kiawara, a decade after Kenya became a British colony.

Growing up in colonial times, she says she was disadvantaged. “We were discriminated against. There were no schools around where we stayed, so I never attended any. Besides, my father would hear none of that mzungu stuff, although we attended church against his wishes,” she says.

“Together with my siblings, we would attend church but made sure our father never got to know about it. If in the unlucky incident he got wind of it, we had to disappear from home for a few days to avoid getting punished,” she says. She had 10 siblings from her father’s two wives.

“By the time my father embraced formal education, it was too late as we were already grown up,” she says.

“As was the custom back then, I got married when I was around 16 years old,” Kirima says.

“I had witnessed how the white man oppressed our people and when the time came for us to go to the forest, I was at the forefront. Together with my husband, Mutungi wa Gichuhi, we joined the other Mau Mau fighters in the Aberdare Forest,” she says. She was about 20 years old at the time.

STELLAR WARRIOR

While most of the women were used as spies for the Mau Mau or to deliver food to the freedom fighters, Muthoni was an active fighter.

It is said that she was the only woman to have attained the title of Field Marshal, according to Mau Mau ranking.

“It is women who made us win this war. The women did more than fight physically. A woman is very important in society but, sadly, her role is always overlooked. As a woman, your value is immeasurable,” she says.

“I remember when the war broke out in 1952, one man said that the men should not tell the women. However, another man overruled him and said they would not leave the women behind," says the former fighter.

“I would deliver messages and food to them (Mau Mau fighters). I then learnt how to fight while in the forest," Muthoni continues.

Nicknamed ‘Weaver Bird’ by Dedan Kimathi due to her prowess in weaving brilliant strategies, Muthoni managed to escape death while in the forest though she got injured on several occasions.

“Every time I encountered a white soldier, I would lift my hands like this, in mock surrender to avoid being captured or killed,” she explains as she demonstrates with her hands.

TRAINING

“Life in the forest was hard. Death would come knocking at any time. The training we had to go through was not for the faint-hearted. The training, she said, included being hit with the side of a panga on the stomach to test one’s resilience.

“We would go for weeks without a proper meal. To kill the hunger pangs or at least make them subside, we would chew sisal until it softened enough, which we swallowed like porridge,” Muthoni says as she holds back tears. “Intimacy was forbidden even among married couples. Those found to be engaging in sexual relations were either killed or banished from the forest," she adds.

Muthoni says she was given the Field Marshal title because of her bravery, loyalty and determination to fight for her people.

Together with her husband who was by then a General, they fought until the end.

“We got back to "civilisation" on December 12, 1963, having spent 11 years fighting in the forest,” she says.

“When we met with Jomo Kenyatta, there was a promise to reward those who had conquered. Sadly, until today, no one bothers to know where we are or how we survive," she continues. Her husband died two years after Kenya attained independence.

A FORGOTTEN LOT

Muthoni says the very country she sacrificed her life for has forgotten her and those who fought for independence.

“A good number of those who went to the forest to liberate our motherland are deceased while the few remaining ones have been sidelined by the government. No one remembers them," she laments.

"So many of you people (journalists) have interviewed me but there’s nothing tangible to show from all those interviews. I am an old woman now and need to be left in peace. It is too painful," she says.

Apart from a presidential award by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Muthoni says there has been no other form of recognition from the government.

"It breaks my heart because after all the sacrifices we made, we never really enjoyed the fruits of independence. Instead, the ones who never lifted a finger fighting, together with their descendants, are the beneficiaries," laments Muthoni.

"I do not regret fighting for this country," she concludes.