How Public Participation Meeting Aborted After Mau Mau, Descendants Stormed The Venue
UK High Commissioner to Kenya Neil Wigan
One Of The Individuals Agitating For The Former Freedom Fighters Compensation Was Accused Of Taking Advantage Of The Elderly And Misleading Them. They Want Action Taken Against Him For Collecting Money Under The Guise Of Registering Those Allegedly Set To Receive Millions Of Shillings From British Government
By MTK Correspondents
Worth Noting:
- The Mau Mau team and the descendants were led by James Njuguna Mahuria who runs Jeremiah Mugi Foundation, an organisation he claims champions for the interests of the former freedom fighters.
- Working under the Mau Mau War Veteran Association, the group declared they had passed the bills.
- This prompted the meeting convenors led by County Assembly Education Committee Chair, nominated MCA Janet Kamiru to leave the site where they were sitted, move a few metres away and called off the meeting.
- This was after Ms Kamiru and her team tried in vain to convince them that they should first understand the bill which was being read before passing it.
A Public Participation forum convened in Nyeri aborted after former freedom fighters stormed the venue and even without settling down, claimed that they had unanimously passed the bills.
The former fighters, commonly referred to as Mau Mau shocked the meeting convenors when they arrived at Wambugu Farmers Training Centre and started shouting they had passed the bill.
The public participation meeting had been convened by Nyeri County Assembly and was set to discuss two bills; the Nyeri County Early Childhood Development and Pre-Primary Education bill, 2025 and the Nyeri County Access to Information bill, 2025.
On their arrival, the more than 200 Mau Mau and some young people who claim to be descendants of freedom fighters claimed the two bills were actually ‘Mau Mau Bill’.
In a well choreographed set up, they hijacked the meeting to the astonishment of the convenors.
In attendance were several MCAs, Assembly staff, officials from the Nyeri County government and members of public who were eager to contribute to the proposed bills.
The Mau Mau team and the descendants were led by James Njuguna Mahuria who runs Jeremiah Mugi Foundation, an organisation he claims champions for the interests of the former freedom fighters.
Working under the Mau Mau War Veteran Association, the group declared they had passed the bills.
This prompted the meeting convenors led by County Assembly Education Committee Chair, nominated MCA Janet Kamiru to leave the site where they were sitted, move a few metres away and called off the meeting.
This was after Ms Kamiru and her team tried in vain to convince them that they should first understand the bill which was being read before passing it.
Others present were Gatarakwa MCA Clement Warutere, Konyu MCA Julius Kamiri, nominated MCA Karanja Maina among others.
However, instead listening to what the bills contain, Mahuria shouted, “we have passed all the bills,” amid cheers from the ex-freedom fighters.
Mahuria’s move led to calling off the forum.
The assembly officials said they would call another meeting at a later date.
During a press briefing by Mahuria and his team, after the meeting aborted, it became evident that they were not enlightened on the purpose of the forum.
Instead of addressing the matters in the bills, more so the one on access to information, Mahuria diverted and started addressing issues of how JM Kariuki and Tom Mboya were killed. He also hit out at an MCA who claimed said there were no money to compensate the Mau Mau, though the issue was raised by Britain High Commissioner to Kenya Mr Neil Wigan.
Journalists had to interject and caution him to address the matter at hand but he could hear none of it, as he went ahead to claim that the money to compensate the former freedom fighters was in the country, though he could not tell from where it had landed in Kenya.
During the 68th Dedan Kimathi Memorial at Kahira-ini area, Tetu at the edge of Aberdare Ranges last month on February 18, Mahuria made similar claims where he went ahead and named an international bank saying the cash which he claims runs in trillions of shillings was deposited in its Nyeri branch. However, he did not disclose who owns that account holding the money.
The members who had travelled from various parts of the country, were clearly out of place as the agenda for the meeting was entirely a matter of the Nyeri County.
Yesterday’s event was the third in three months when the former freedom fighters have travelled to Nyeri for meetings that never materialise.
On December 10, a meeting set to take place at Kabiru-ini Show grounds failed to take off after the management said the convenors had not paid for the venue and they had no the required permits.
Thousands of former freedom fighters were stranded as Mahuria and other convenors heaped blame on each other.
On February 18, another such meeting aborted over similar reasons. It is after they were denied access to Kabiru-ini grounds that Mahuria and part of his team travelled to Kahira-ini for the Kimathi Memorial ceremony which was hosted by Dedan Kimathi Foundation which is led by Evalyne Wanjugu.
When reached for comment last evening, Mahuria justified his team’s action saying they went there to pass the access to information bill so that Nyeri County Governor Dr Mutahi Kahiga could sign it and give way for them to access the thousands of files that were in December released to Kenyan government by its former colonial master.
Though the said 2,668 files and 300,000 images are under the custody of the National Archives which is based in Nairobi, Mahuria claimed that the said documents will be accessed through the passage of the bill, that is entirely meant for information pertaining to issues in Nyeri County.
This publication has established that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations is yet to complete Investigations, months after several people were arrested in Othaya illegally collecting money under the guise of registering them to be in the list of those set to be compensated.
Some of the descendants of Mau Mau who attended yesterday’s meeting accused those spearheading the compensation issue of hoodwinking the elders over the issue.
They wondered where money for compensation would come from, with the British on January 23 through its High Commissioner clarifying that there were no plans for the former colonial masters to release cash or land to the Mau Mau or their descendants.
They call on the government to move fast and take action against those misleading the remaining former freedom fighters.
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