The glue that binds Mt Kenya voters since independence

By Amos Kareithi

Kenya: Voters in Mt Kenya region have been perceived by some observers as voting homogenously in every General Election, akin to ‘neighing in one voice like a donkey’.

This phenomenon has been viewed by some as ‘siege mentality’, which has at times reduced Central Province, Embu, Tharaka and Meru counties into automatic voting blocs. And this trend can be partially explained from a historical perspective.

The neighing theory was best articulated by Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi, who while campaigning in the late 1990s on a DP ticket exhorted the voters in Meru: “Kuma thuchi nkinya Ntonyiri, tukaaria na mugambo jumwe ta ntigiri” (from Thuchi to Ntonyiri- the larger Meru, we will speak in one voice like a donkey.)

This “communal voting” can be traced back to 1950s, when the colonial government systematically criminalised the communities from Mt. Kenya region.

Elective politics

During this period, the government ‘imprisoned’ hundreds of thousands of people in ‘open detention camps’ and banned them from participating in elective politics.

The nightmares Mt Kenya region went through during this period are best captured by some of Joseph Kamaru’s Mau Mau freedom songs.

The dirge-like freedom songs summarises the predicament of a people hounded out of Nairobi in 1950s for being Mau Mau suspects only to walk in the arms of the brutal home guards in the rural homes.

Some of those who escaped the home guards went through harrowing experiences as Maina Wanjigi once found out.

He was kicked out of Makerere University on suspicions of taking a Mau Mau oath but upon reaching Nairobi, he found a government crackdown in progress and had to flee to Murang’a.

At home, he cheated death by a whisker after the Mau Mau brigands wrongly accused him of spying for the government.

The residents had been excluded from political participation. This started with the banning of political parties in the country and intensified after October 1952, when the militant Mau Mauviolently tried to evict the white man from Kenya.

This led to a roundup of all prominent politicians in the shock operation during which Kenyatta and the other five Kapenguria prisoners were arrested and later tried and convicted.

As the agitation for freedom intensified, the colonial government banned all African political organisations in 1953.

In the ensuing turmoil, as Caroline Elkin writes in ‘Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of the Britain’s Gulag in Kenya’, an estimated 1.6 million people in Mt Kenya were confined in heavily guarded villages.

Inside the villages

The villages were also ringed with barbed wire reinforced with spiked trenches.  Inside the villages, an entire population was subjected to forced labour, starvation and torture while an estimated 360,000 people were formally detained in designated camps.

Historian, David Anderson in ‘Histories of the Hanged’ details how 3,000 suspected Mau Mau adherents were tried in special courts.

Out of these, 1,574 were convicted and 1,090 hanged. 

 In the eyes of the government, all inhabitants of Mt Kenya region were either Mau Mau adherents or supporters who had taken oath, with the exception of the loyalists such as chiefs. 

The over 1.6 million people who at that time constituted almost a third of the population were excluded from politics.

However, there was a glimmer of hope in 1954 when a new constitution, named after the then British Colonial Secretary, Oliver Lyttleton was enacted, paving way for limited African representation.

Even then, Africans were only allowed to form district-based parties in June 1956, with the exception of Central Province where all political activities were still banned.

By the time the first elections were held in March 1957, eligible voters in Central Province were not allowed to participate. The region too could not field any candidate.

“No one was elected from the Kikuyu, a quarter of Kenya’s population. The veteran Eliud Mathu was defeated by Bernard Mate,” explains Charles Hornsby in ‘Kenya: History since Independence’.

During this election, Oginga Odinga was elected to represent Luo Nyanza, Tom Mboya (Nairobi), Ronald Ngala (Coast) Masinde Muliro (Bukusu) and Lawrence Oguda (Kisii, Luo and Kipsigis).

Daniel Moi was elected to represent Rift Valley while James Muimi was a representative of the Akamba people.

Splitting voters

A year later in 1958, following the enactment of Lennox-Boyd constitution, the number of African elected leaders was risen to 14.

For the first time since the beginning of the Emergency period, a Kikuyu, Julius Kiano was elected to represent South Central while Jeremiah Nyaga, a son of a colonial chief triumphed to represent Nyeri-Embu.

The colonialists, still wary of the influence of the Kikuyu on politics owing to their militancy and numerical strength devised methods of splitting the electorates.

When the new leaders in Legislative Council formed African Elected Members Organisation (AEMO), the British government infiltrated it.

The government convinced some members from the smaller communities to abandon AEMO, with arguments that Kikuyu and Luo communities dominated it.

This led to the collapse of AEMO but hastened the birth of Kanu on March 4, 1960. By then, the colonialists had already laid the groundwork for exclusion of the major communities in Kanu from government to be formed after another round of polls.

During the February 1961 General Elections, colonialists skewed the stakes against Kanu, which despite having the numerical strength was outfoxed by complex machinations.

The political landscape was such that there was no universal suffrage as the most densely populated areas were allocated only two seats while other marginalised areas were overrepresented.

During the elections held in February 1961, there was an 86 per cent voter turn out where 885,000 people voted for the 33 African seats up for grabs.

Voters and Kanu supporters were rudely shocked since the presiding officers openly marked the ballots for most voters, according to Hornsby.

Kenyatta’s release

Throughout the period, Jomo Kenyatta, who had already completed his seven year jail term was still locked up by the government, further strengthening Mt Kenya region’s siege mentality.

The government was determined to lock Kenyatta out of leadership despite a sustained campaign orchestrated by Odinga.

As Kanu agitated for Kenyatta’s release, Kadu and the settlers were busy wooing the smaller affiliate parties and succeeded in cobbling up an alliance to form the first African government on April 18, 1961.

They formed a government led by Ngala in which Moi, Muliro and Towett served as ministers.  Kadu also tried to win over Kenyatta by volunteering to build him a house in the hope that he would join their side.

But when Kenyatta was released, he joined Kanu where he replaced James Gichuru as party president on October 28, 1961.

 Though Kenyatta had to sidestep many traps set up by the colonialists who feared an African led government, his party finally took the government from Kadu

 One of the most ingenious methods was the introduction of a federal system of government; the brainchild of the Michael Blundell led New Vision Party.

The majimbo system was calculated to weaken the central government by introducing regional units, which were under autonomous presidents.

It was also meant to curtail members of the larger communities from owning property in other areas such as Coast and the Rift Valley.

During the May 1963 elections, there were 117 House of Representatives and a further 41 Senate seats based on districts.

Kadu was unable to field candidates in Kanu strongholds such as in Central and Nyanza.

At the same time, Kanu bagged 64 seats in the House of Representatives compared to Kadu’s 32 while Akamba People’s Party (APP) had 8. 

However in the senate, Kadu faired better after securing 16 seats against Kanu’s 18.

Interestingly, the entire Mt. Kenya region, just like in the 1961 General Election, voted as a block for Kanu and most of its leaders like Kenyatta and Gichuru sailed through unopposed.

During the historic election, out of the 2.7 million registered voters, the voter turnout was 80 per cent although Isiolo and Marsabit did not participate due to a Somali boycott.

Immediately after Kenya got independence and became a republic a year later in 1964, sharp ideological differences started emerging between Kenyatta and his Vice President, Odinga.

The differences climaxed in 1966 when Odinga was kicked out of Kanu and stripped of his vice presidency, marking the beginning of a bitter rivalry between the freedom icons.

In the ensuing election held in June 26, 1966, Odinga with his new Kenya People’s Party (KPU) fielded candidates for 10 senate and 19 parliamentary seats.

 In what turned out to be a contes¥t between Kenyatta and Odinga, KPU won only 10 seats while Kanu won 20. 

In Kandara where Odinga’s ally, Bildad Kaggia was seeking election on a KPU ticket, he was perceived as a traitor and his supporters ruthlessly attacked, leading to the death of seven people.

After Kenyatta’s death in 1978, the region would later go through a rough patch as most of its prominent politicians were silenced in the 1980s.

The perceived persecution climaxed in late 1980s when the likes of Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia were detained as the clamour for multipartyism intensified.

The exclusion from government in the 1980s led to the region abandoning Kanu and joining first the Matiba led Ford Asili and Democratic Party led by Mwai Kibaki.

Matiba’s exit from politics bequeathed Kibaki a constituency, which solidly backed him in 1997, enabling him to be the official leader of the Opposition.

And from 2002, Kibaki has exclusively enjoyed the unwavering support of the Mt Kenya regionvoters, an inheritance he appears to have passed over to President Uhuru Kenyatta.