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HISTORY ALIVE: New lease of life for ‘Kenyatta houses’

Saturday July 01 2017
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One of the dilapidated ‘Kenyatta Houses’ in Lokitaung, Lodwar, where the Kapenguria Six were detained between 1959 and 1961. PHOTOS | FRED OLUOCH | NATION

By FRED OLUOCH

Justus Eding, the curator of the colonial detention centres in Lodwar, 677km northwest of Nairobi, is both a proud and frustrated man.

He is proud of being a part of history as the keeper of the houses where Kenya’s most famous fighters for freedom were kept under house arrest from 1959 to 1961. They had earlier served seven-year jail terms in Lokitaung from 1953.

But Mr Eding is frustrated too that the now dilapidated houses where the “Kapenguria Six” were jailed are not given the attention they deserves by the local community and administration despite being an important part of Kenya’s struggle for Independence.

This is because while much has been written about the Kapenguria Six, very few Kenyans know or care about the houses that acted as their prisons,

which are now considered national monuments.

Heroes’ Day

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Yet Kenyans celebrate Heroes’ Day on October 20, in remembrance of the Six— Jomo Kenyatta, Kungu Karumba, Fred Kubai, Paul Ngei, Bildad Kaggia and Ramogi Achieng Oneko — for their sacrifice and contribution to the country’s fight for Independence.

However, for the first time in Kenya’s history, the colonial detention centres in Lodwar — commonly known as the Kenyatta Houses — and in Kapenguria, that were used to detain the Kapenguria Six, received $1.2 million from the central government for renovation, maintenance and promotion of the sites.

The money will be channelled through the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). Other houses in Maralal and Lokitaung — all in northwestern Kenya — are also going to benefit from the funds.

The houses in Kapenguria, Lodwar, Lokitaung and Maralal were used to detain freedom fighters during the war against the Mau Mau under the state of Emergency declared in 1952.  

The EastAfrican recently visited the colonial detention centres in Lodwar in Turkana County, and Kapenguria West in Pokot County on a fact-finding tour.

Also on the same mission were five members of the NMK board led by the director of sites and monuments, Dr Purity Kiura, to see the state of the dilapidated houses where Kenyatta, Kagia, Kubai, Ngei and Karumba were kept under house arrest from 1959­ to 1960.

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One of the dilapidated ‘Kenyatta Houses’ in Lokitaung, Lodwar, where the Kapenguria Six were detained between 1959 and 1961. PHOTOS | FRED OLUOCH | NATION

READ: ‘Kaggia’: Play immortalises forgotten hero

In Lodwar, Kenyatta’s one bedroomed house is in good condition after being renovated by NMK in 2008 and in 2015 by the Turkana County government ahead of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit. What used to be the bedroom is currently used by Mr Eding as a site office.

The rest of the four houses belonging to Kagia, Kubai, Ngei and Karumba are in a state of total disrepair, with cracked walls and woven mats in place of the once wooden window shutters.

The political detainees were not supposed to go out beyond a 7km radius, but local people were free to visit them and bring them food. They also had to report to the district commissioner daily.

Dr Kiura told The EastAfrican that a lack of funds made it impossible for NMK to maintain the historic houses. However with the $1.2 million allocated by the government, the Museums will soon embark on major renovations and a campaign to attract both local and international tourists.

She said the Museums is planning to introduce more exhibitions on the Kapenguria Six once the renovations are complete.

Setback

The other challenge is that the Turkana county government has “invaded” the site without the permission of NMK and is building a music studio and a library in the compound.

“We are not worried about the County government using the compound for cultural and educational purposes, but the problem is that they did not consult us and their design is not compatible with the houses where the leaders were detained,” said Dr Kiura, who added that NMK is seeking to secure the site by acquiring a title deed.

But Mr Eding is more concerned that local people are not interested in visiting the houses and learning of their significance to the country’s political history. He hopes that part of the funds will be used to launch a major campaign to create awareness and the message that the site belongs to the people.

Prof Ephraim Wahome, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nairobi, who is also a board member of NMK, says the community must get involved by saying what they want to see displayed in the houses, adding that they should also be provided with space to display their traditional handicraft for sale.

“We can only succeed if the local people understand that the site is important to the country and that it belongs to them,” said Dr Wahome.

For instance, Peter Ejore, a 20-year old boda boda rider, says that his community just knows the place as the Kenyatta House and nothing more. He went out of his way to find out more about the place and was dismayed by the state of neglect compared with its historical significance.

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One of the dilapidated ‘Kenyatta Houses’ in Lokitaung, Lodwar, where the Kapenguria Six were detained between 1959 and 1961. PHOTOS | FRED OLUOCH | NATION

Kapenguria cells

However, the situation is different in Kapenguria, 33km north of Kitale town, where the six were held from October 1952 to July 1953. The six cells where the prisoners were held — now known as the Heroes Cells — are neat from outside with the walls painted in black and white.

On the doors, painted green, are the engraved names of the occupants.

The cells, measuring six by six feet, built in 1950, still have the metal buckets the prisoners used for their ablution. There are also framed copies of the profiles of each of the prisoners, with their pictures, biography and their alleged crimes.

Located on a hill 2km from Makutano, off the Lodwar-Kitale Road, the six cells are fairly presentable except for some few cracks on the walls and the roof. The cracks are mainly visible in the first room that was being used for interrogation, which is more spacious than the cells.

Unlike Lodwar, the Kapenguria cells attract over 1,000 visits per month, mainly from central Kenya, and thousands of students from the Western region.

According to Justus Kikuvi, the curator of the Kapenguria Museum, the West Pokot County attempted to take over the site in line with the devolved government structure but later abandoned the idea when they realised that it does not generate any meaningful revenue.

Kikuvi said that the site earns between $120 and $220 per month from gate charges depending on the school calendar, although it receives only $400 per month from NMK headquarters for maintenance.

READ: Kenya museums to soon go virtual

“The exhibitions in the cells are just a bare minimum and do not tell the real story about the importance of the trial to the history of Kenya. The place will be more attractive with more material of the trial of the Kapenguria Six and how they progressed from the trial till their deaths,” said Mr Kikuvi.

However, displays in the museum include books and documents in a memorial library in honour of all heroes who participated in the struggle for Independence.

There are also two other buildings hosting ethnographic galleries exhibiting cultural artefacts of the communities from the region such as the Pokot and Cherengani. There is also a simulated Pokot homestead that forms the bedrock of the Kapenguria Museum, opened in 1993.

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