hn Njigoya Kagwe alias John Kiboko

I was born in 1930 in Kirinyaga District. I have a wife and six children. During the liberation struggle, I was rounded up in Operation Anvil and held at Langata in Nairobi. I was arrested once again in 1957, when I was shot in the right leg in an ambush by a home guard patrol led by a tall European DO (district officer) – KG, who lived in Mukangu village and who had been nicknamed ‘Waikanja’ After my arrest, I was charged in Embu in 1957 with the offence of associating with the Mau Mau. I was jailed for nine years at Nairobi Temporary Prison in Kamiti. Though I was convicted I did not serve the whole sentence. I was walking with crutches at the time. I was also in leg chains permanently riveted for the 2 years. I served part of my jail term in Embakasi where we built the airport. We were under the command of a European officer (of medium build, average height, small moustache and scary face) who we called ‘Kiriro’ (the cry). Very many prisoners died during the construction of the airport. Their bodies would be collected in trucks and sent to Kamiti for burial. From Embakasi, I was taken to Mwea Camps where we were asked to tear off our prison clothes and change into others. If someone refused mud was stuffed in his mouth and a stick used to push it in. This is the torture that was inflicted on me by Jeremiah Kiereini leading to my loss of all my teeth (I wear dentures today). All the while, a white British officer watched as this happened.

Patrick wa Njogu alias ‘General’ Kassam Njogu

I was born in the 1920s in Embu District and joined the Mau Mau in the Mount Kenya forest in 1952. In 1956, in Kirinyaga, I was shot in the left leg and subsequently arrested and taken to Embu. When I was taken to Embu General Hospital, I remained chained to the hospital bed in spite of my grievous bullet wound. I have never felt so much pain in my life. My leg was tightly bound until pus was flowing out freely. Eventually, my left leg had to be amputated above the knee. During the operation to amputate the leg, I was not fully sedated and I could feel each motion as the doctor cut through the bone with a saw. I was in hospital for about a month after the operation, all the while chained to my hospital bed. After the trial, I was taken to Thiba Camp in the Mwea. From there, I was transferred to Athi River and then onwards to Manyani. Life was unbearable in Manyani, where we lived like animals. It was more difficult for me as I was now disabled by virtue of having lost a leg. I remember an instance when we were all thrown into the camp cattle dip, which was filled with acaricides. I was not thrown into the dip but a bucket full of the acaricides was poured on me. For a person with one leg, this was the height of cruelty. The guards on many occasions confiscated my crutches as a form of punishment. When I refused to work on account of my disability, I would not be spared the severe beatings that were the norm for refusal to work.

Jane Muthoni Mara

I was born in Embu District. We were five in my family, though an elder sister died, leaving four. My father died and we were left to be cared for by our mother. In 1954, when I was about 15 years old, I was arrested at home after being betrayed as a Mau Mau scout. I was taken to Gatithi Screening Camp in Kiini Location of Ndia Division and accused of supplying the Mau Mau with food. At the camp, my interrogators beat me with gun butts under the supervision of a short bald-headed white DO nicknamed Waikanja and told us they would kill us. Waikanja ordered an African home guard by the name of Edward to insert a bottle into my private parts. I will never forget this sexual invasion and torture. The insertion of the bottles in my private parts was intended to induce me into revealing what I knew about Mau Mau. For older women, the soldiers would use 750ml bottles, while for younger girls like me they used smaller 300ml soda bottles. In my case, the bottle was filled with hot water and then pushed by Edward into my private parts with his foot. I hear that Edward is still alive. I knew him. He was from my home area.