That the maumau fought and died for the people of Kenya is an absurd story to feed our minds with.

The truth is that these were disaffected people who tried to shape their experience and failed miserably and won nothing for anyone.

That's exactly my view.
In fact my take is that the Mau mau confusion served to delay independence. Only after it was crashed did structured discussion towards independence take shape.

I like these Mau Mau debates

There are usually 2 takes on the movement in Kenya:

1) That the freedom fighters were heroes; that they drove out, or contributed the largest part to the eviction of mzungu. Anybody who was opposed to them is a traitor

2)The freedom fighters were not heroes; they engaged in a useless war for land only and lost; they had zero impact on independence

No 1 is used mainly by proponents of Kikuyu and Gema Nationalism and civil society memebers

No 2 Has been used increasingly over time by Kikuyuphobic Kenyans, from academia, media, etc

Now to the reality: Mau Mau never drove out the British like the Americans did in their war for independence. The fight was a guerilla fight against a well organised British Army with additional help from Kings African Rifles

It was a brave fight, no doubt, they tried. But I believe one of their main undoings was lack of weapons . Fighting WWII victors with home made guns was just an issue of faith. Little wonder then they killed very few whites and they never controlled any region or village!

But does that mean it was a useless movement? I increasingly believe it was necessary. An Ian Smith style unilateral declaration of independence was in the plan by LR Briggs with his United Kenya Party.

We must acknowledge that there were 2 types of whites post WWII:
1)The white settler in Kenya who had made this his home and couldn't see himself living elsewhere in less comfort
2)The whites in Britain who were more liberal and couldn't have minded giving us independence

The whites in Kenya always prevailed. After WWII, their numbers increased as white soldiers who had served in the war were rewarded with land in Kenya while the blacks got nothing

They were not going anywhere.

Had the Mau Mau insurgency not started, a UDI would have been declared by the settlers. The armed struggle embarrassed Britain when the atrocities reached the media in the West.

What bravery was shown by the Maumau? These fellows were thugs who deliberately targeted alleged Kikuyu collaborators.

You conveniently ignore the Lari massacre, the internal power struggles between Dedan Kimathi and General Mathenge and the hundreds of bystanders who were tortured and murdered. Even their highest profile "victory" against the mzungu was a colonial farmer and his young family, not hardened veterans of WW II.

The hero worship of Maumau is misplaced with the reality of that period.

it seems like this was their core job