Religion, Politics and War: Recollections on General Ndaya and Kenya’s Quest for Independence
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Date
2024-10
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Abstract
The mosaic law of advocating the paying of life with life, and an “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, [and] stripe for stripe” (Exodus
21:23-25), came out clearly on 15th and 16th October 1953, as the politics of land and freedom
[wiyathi na ithaka] in the colonial Kenya brought their ugly faces through a deadly violence.
While the 15th October saw the Mau Mau rebels attack and kill two Roman Catholic Sisters
(Cecilia Wangeci and Rosetta Njeri) at the Baricho Centre, the 16th October 1953 saw the
capture of the rebel’s leader (Wanjagi wa Ndegwa, also known as General Ndaya) and his
subsequent killing. In trying to understand the interface between religion, politics, and war in
the African context, the research article has sampled the twin issues (the battle of River Ragati
and the attacks on the Baricho Catholic Church of 1953)to alert the post-colonial Africa on the
dangers of conflict among the trio.
Contribution: This research article contributes to the broad scope of Theologia Viatorum
journal via a multidisciplinary perspective that interfaces religion, politics, and war. It utilises
a theo-historical design, and oral history techniques, such as storytelling, archival sources,
personal communications with selected individuals, and through an extensive review of
relevant literature.
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Gathogo, J.M., 2024, ‘Religion, politics and war: Recollections on General Ndaya and Kenya’s quest for independence’, Theologia Viatorum 48(1), a266. https://doi.org/10.4102/ tv.v48i1.266