as he stood up to say these words:
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githatharu tutingiri haha uumuthi. Twagiriiruo ni kugia na andu aingi
ogi a gukaguna ruriri.
Riu ningi ni wega hutie uhoro wa githomo. Kiama giki nigia kunora
ciana ciitu na mundu akinora ruhiu niagiriiruo ni kumenya kana niga
ithinja kana ni ka irima kana nika njora. Naguo uguo noguo githomo
gitarii, uhoro wa mbere ni tumenye wega umaga na mucii. Githomo
gitangiambiriria kuuma mucii kana kirira gitangiambiria kuuma mucii
kiu ti githomo, andu aingi marikia guthii Cukuru macokaga gwita
aria angi akigu. No ngumwira na ma thiini wa nyumba ino ona kana
bururi-ini witu wothe, ni kuri na andu aingi muno mena uugi na matiui
marua. Kirira kana githomo ni kumenya mutugo mwega, na ningi kirira
ni kuruta magongona. Hindi iria uguthii kuhand-a irio ciaku niwam-
baga guikara thi ugathura iria njega ingimera na iria njuru itangimera
na ungiaga guthura uthii ukahande irio icio njuru ciitagwo mbooyo
marima macio ukuhanda matingimera kindu. Githomo ni guthura
maundu tukamenya mutugo uria mwega tukauikaria, mutugo uria
muuru tukaunina ni getha maundu maitu maria mega matuike nimo
gitina kana muthingi namo maya mangi ma ageni tuigirire iguru. No
riri tungikoruo tukuoya maundu ma ageni tutekumenya wega na uuru
wamo no tukinyiriruo ni thimo iria ya Agikuyu yugaga ati ‘Mugathi
wa kuona uteaga wa mwene’. Uria ngumwira nota uria ndiramwirire
hwai tondu mundu angiaga kwaria ma uhoro wi mwega kana wi muuru
mundu ucio ti mundu.
Riu undu uria muru twikaga ni andu aria mathoma mahanaga o
njagatha ya mburi, tondu wa kwaga guthura maundu maria mega.
Ngumwira ati tondu riu nitwithagathagite twake micii ya githomo rekei
tugiake na turirikane andu aria angi me Gikuyu-ini. Ni kuri na andu
aingi moigaga ati o ti acenji ni angwana, nao ni kwihenia mehenagia.
Na mumenye niguo-ri angwana marutaga igoti ota a gukawe na undu
uria wikagwo andu airu othe noguo angwana mekagwo. Ningi andu
aing imahana gathuku karia gatari meciria mako, koigaga o uria kaigua
mundu oiga gategwiciria. Rekei twike maundu mothe tumenyereire,
tukiuga undu tugakoruo twiciritie mbere. Undu uria muene ni uiguano
uyu wa Kiama gia Aciari, no riri kwaira ti gwika. Rekei tuhane ta
nyamindigi. Agicoka akiuria andu atiri, mukwenda tutwike ta nyamin-
digi kana ta kimbu. Andu amwe makiuga ta nyamindigi na aria angi
makiugata kimbu. Nao andu magitheka nake agicoka akimera atiri,
Rekei ndimuhe uhoro wa Nyamindigi na Kimbu na ni getha mucoke
mukumenye kiria mukenda gutwika.
kenyatta is our reconciler
359
‘Now then, I’d like to apologise for being late. Secondly, I must tell
you that I’m very happy indeed. If you don’t mind my asking you, what
is it that makes my heart feel full of happiness? It’s not from drinking
tea, since every home has tea. It’s because I know we’re meeting here
for a particular reason, and to do certain things. If you’ll allow me, I
would say that the Kikuyu have prospered and increased. If they had
not, we would not be here today.
‘We ought to have many educated people who will benefi t our nation.
But I ought now to refl ect on education. Th
is association is concerned
to sharpen our children ( Ugi in Kikuyu means knowledge but in English
it means sharpness).82 And when a man sharpens his knife, he should
know if it’s for slaughter, or for cultivating his garden, or a sword to
be sheathed. For education is [many-sided] like that. Th
e fi rst thing to
know is that goodness83 begins at home. If education does not start at
home, or if secret knowledge ( good advice)84 is not given from home
in the fi rst place, that will result in bad education.
‘We know that some people, when they leave home and go to school,
soon change and start calling others savages and foolish. But I’d like to
tell you the truth which is this: In this Hall, and indeed in the country
as a whole, there are very clever people who don’t know how to read
or write. Good advice or good education85 is to know good manners.
And good advice is to know how to off er oneself for sacrifi ce, for the
good of the country and others.86
‘For when you go out to sow your seeds, you fi rst sit down and select
the good seeds which will sprout, and you put aside the bad ones that
won’t sprout. For if you don’t select and sort your seeds, and take to
sowing them unsorted, the holes in the ground where you sow them
will remain empty because the bad seeds won’t sprout.87
‘[Good] education enables one to sort out the good from the bad
in life. We pick up good habits and develop them while eliminating
bad ones, to ensure that good habits are the basis88 of our behaviour,
while keeping foreign habits at bay. If we pick up foreign things and
put them at the top without knowing if they are good or bad for us, we
would be putting ourselves in the position of which the tribal proverb
warns: ‘Mugathi wa kuona uteage wa mwene’ which means: ‘A newly
found necklace makes its fi nder lose his original one’.89
‘I’m repeating what I told you the other day—that if a man doesn’t
truthfully distinguish good from bad, he is not a person. Now then,
unfortunately, what usually happens is that when people get educated
they are simply like the fl aps of skin that dangle from a goat’s neck.
Th
eir failure to sort good [from bad] makes them confused.90
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Hindi iria Mwene-Nyaga athondekire Bururi uyu niatumire Kimbu
gikahe andu uhoro na Nyamindigi ituike muira, ciakinya Kimbu giki-
ambiria kuuga atiri ‘Twiriruo atiri, twiriruo atiri’ o kinya nyamindigi
iking’urika ikiuga watinda haha ukiuga twiriruo atiri, kai tuteriruo
tuuge andu makuage magithiaga na miri ya mikongoe.
Nacio cieritwo undu uria uriugwo mbere ndugacoka kugaruruka, no
uria cieritwo ni ati andu makuag emakiriukaga, na tondu wa kimbu
gutindirira uhoro oro umwe gigikarario ni nyamindigi. Magondereri
maakorire ruui rukuiyura.
Tugomanite haha twi Kiama gia Aciari. Ni wega tutigagitinde tukiuga
twi Kiama kia Aciari gutari kaundu tukuhingia. Gutiri undu uri hinya,
na kirimu na mugi gutiri utoi gugituka. Mawira mothe marutagwo
mwiruti.
Mbundi twi namo, mahiga twinamo, niki twagite? Ni wega tugie
na kio na twarie na mugambo umwe na tutiane na maundu mothe
nitukuhota. Tukiririkanaga ati to Agikuyu oiki na to Ukabi wiki na to
Ikamba kana andu a Mombasa oiki, tumenye ati mundu muiru wothe
ni muiru na ni muru wa maitu na mwari wa maitu. Ni wega tutikae
guturiria meciria maitu hau.
kenyatta is our reconciler
361
‘What I say to you is this: now that we’re prepared to build many
schools, let’s build them while remembering the others who live Kikuyu
country. Many people say they are no longer savages because they have
become civilised.91 But that’s a delusion. Both civilised and savage pay
the same taxes, as their grand
fathers did. All Africans are subjected to
exactly the same treatment, whether civilised or not.
‘Moreover, many people behave like parrots,92 without a mind of
their own. Without thinking, a parrot says what it hears someone else
say. Let us do everything with great care. When we say something, let’s
think about it fi rst.93
‘Th
e most important thing is this: Unity within the Parents Asso-
ciation. But speaking is not doing. Let’s behave like that bird called
Nyamindigi.94 Th
en he asked the people: ‘Do you want us to behave like
Nyamindigi? Or like the slow, crawling, chameleon Kembu?’ In reply, some said they wanted us to behave like the bird, Nyamindigi, while
others said they wanted us to be like Kembu. Th
e confusion made the
audience burst out laughing.
Th
e Legend of the Bird Nyamindigi and Kembu the Hesitant
Chameleon
Th
en Kenyatta said ‘Let me tell you the legend of the bird Nyamindigi
and the slow hesitating chameleon Kembu, so that you can tell me
which you want us to take as our model.
‘Th
e legend says that when Almighty God created this Earth, He sent
Kembu with instructions to forewarn human beings about their future,
together with the bird Nyamindigi as witness to this very important
message. For they were told that whatever was fi rst said to human beings would for ever remain, never to be changed.
‘When the two of them got to where the human beings lived, Kembu
began to tell the people his good news but kept repeating himself: “We
were told, we were told,” without ever completing a sentence. His stam-
mering made Nyamindigi so angry that the bird shouted the opposite
of what Kembu was going to say: “Why do you keep repeating, We
were told, we were told instead of saying that, We were told that people
would die and be swallowed by the roots of the Mukongoe tree?”95
‘In their original instructions they were told to advise human beings
that, while they would die, they would also come back to life again.
But because Kembu’s hesitations96 prevented him from telling them
fi rst, what Nyamindigi told the people became the truth which cannot be changed.’
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(16) Miario ya Kinyata hari Ikamba Mucii Wa Machakos
Kiama kia Atwarithia a Mitokaa kia Agikuyu na Aikamba gigwituo
‘Th
ika Native Motor Drivers’ Association nigiekire undu munene naguo
undu ucio niwagwita Muthuri Mugathe ti Kinyatta akonane na Ikamba
itura ria Machakos. Muthenya wa kwambiriria mwaka wa 1947. Kiama
kiu nigiathondekete cai kuu Machakos ati ni getha makoruo me hamwe
na Kinyatta na ati mahingure wabici yao kuo. Uhoro niwarikitie na
kuhunjio muno kuu Ikamba-ini ati Kinyatta niagoka muthenya ucio,
na tondu ucio kwari andu aingi muno mokite kumuona. Aakinya oro
uguo niatwariruo mucii wa mundu umwe ugwituo Philip Kioko wakite
nyumba njega muno ya matumbari, na nikuo maririire irio cia muth-
enya. Anene a Ikamba aria mari ho ni Chief Karoboto na Chief Jonathan
Kala na Chief James Mwanthi, uria urari Ruraya kahinda kahituku. Na
hindi io aari Ruraya nimonanire na Kinyatta, kwoguo aari na gikeno
kinene tondu wa kuona Kinyatta thiini wa bururi wao o hindi iria
amutigire kuraya muno. Th
utha wa irio niguo gwaikurukiruo gugithio
kenyatta is our reconciler
363
Believing that we are capable of doing anything
Before ending his speech Kenyatta told the audience:
‘No wonder we’re told, in another saying, that: “Magondereri mako-
rire Rui rukuiyura” which means: “Th
e procrastinators found that the
rivers had overfl owed their banks. ” We are meeting here today as the Parents Association. Is it good to spend our time repeating, “We are
the Parents Association” without ever achieving anything worthwhile?
Nothing is too hard for us. And, as the saying asserts, neither the fool nor the clever man fail to recognise when it’s getting dark. Work gets
done when the man who is supposed to do it gets down to it himself,
as another saying goes.
‘We have builders and masons, also the stone. What’s missing? All we
need is to be ready to work hard. To be United in a manner that allows
us to talk with one voice. If we respect one another, we will succeed
in our tasks. We should remember that our fi ght is not for the Kikuyu
people alone, nor for the Masai alone, nor the Akamba people alone, nor
yet for the people of Mombasa alone. We should appreciate that we’re
all black people, that everyone is our brother and sister of one mother.
We ought not to shut our eyes and restrict ourselves to one place.’
(16) What Kenyatta said to the Akamba Tribe at Machakos
In those early days aft er Kenyatta’s return to Kenya, an organisation
known as the Th
ika Native Motor Drivers Association, with both Kikuyu
and Kamba members, had prepared a big Tea Party at Machakos Town
on the fi rst day of January, 1947. It had invited Kenyatta to be with
them, to meet the Akamba tribespeople as well as to open a new offi
ce
for their association.
It seems that the news that Kenyatta was coming to Machakos Town
that day had spread wide among the Akamba tribespeople. For many
people turned up: old men, women and children as well as the youth.
When Kenyatta arrived he was taken to Philip Kioko’s home, a
nice modern house with red brick walls. It was there that we took our
midday lunch.
The Akamba tribal chiefs who turned up that day were Chief
Karoboto, Chief Jonathan Kala, as well as Chief James Mwanthi who
had recently been to London, meeting Kenyatta while he was there. So
he was very happy to see Kenyatta coming to his own country—a man
he had last seen thousands of miles away.97
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itura-ini ria Machakos, tugikora andu aingi muno hakuhi ngiri inya
(4,000) nao othe makihatikana muno makienda mone Kinyatta. Andu
magitonya nyumba iria yarugiiruo cai, ukinyuo na gikeno na thutha
wa cai niguo kwoimiruo gugithio handu haria hairigitwo ha kiungano.
Nao andu aria maari ho ni aingi muno. Agikuyu na Ikamba twana na
atumia na arume. Andu marikia guikara thi, mutongoria wa Kiama kia
Atwarithia a mitokaa ugwituo Douglas Mbugwa akiheana gitumi gia cai
ucio ati mbere ni andu monane na muthuri ucio mugeni ti Kinyatta.
Keri nimahingure Wabici yao itura riu ria Machakos. Agicoka akiaria
uhoro muingi ukonii mathina maria monagwo ni atwarithia a mitokaa
a hamwe na matanimboi ona ati micara yao ni minyinyi, no akiuga ati
riu tondu mena Kiama gitikiritio ni Th
irikari nimegukihoya kirira kuri
andu aria ogi tondu atwarithia aingi ti ogi na u’marua.
Chief James Mwanthi akirugama agicokeria andu othe ngatho tondu
wa kugomana na kiuga ni wega andu menyihanirie. Th
utha ucio niguo
Kinyatta arugamire akiuga atiri, Ndahota kumwariria na miaririe
itatu, githungu, kana githwirii kana Gikuyu. Ona ningi no hote kwaria
Giikamb
a, no hihi ingiaria giikamba mutingiigua uhoro niundu wa
gutheka. Ni wega njarie na Gikuyu na aria matekuigua makiruguragiruo.
Agicoka akiuga atiri: Nii ndina gikeno niundu wa Kiama kiu kimwitite
kia Mandereba ma mitokaa. No riri, mwahota kuria atiri, nake Kinyatta-
ri, atwarithagia mutokaa uriku? Nii ndi ndereba na ndio tanimboi,
naguo mutokaa wakw’ari, ni bururi, tondu bururi niuri matereba maguo
na mataniboi maguo. Uhoro munene ni gutwara kindu gitathiaga na
nikio thi. Ta rekei ndimuheange uhoro ngihutangagia utwari wa bururi
ndimwire atiri, Aikamba ni aingi muno aria matari manyona, no nii-ri
ngoro-ini yakwa-ri, Aikamba na micii yao na ng’ombe ciao na nyeki iria
mariithagia ni ndimoi makiria ya ura manjui nii. Na tondu ringi njaragia
cararuku, ta mwaka-ini wa 1938 ni mukuririkana uhoro wa ng’ombe
cianyu uria ciatunyanagwo. Ng’ombe icio-ri, ciari ciakwa? No ngumwira
nama ati handu ha mieri inana ndaturaga wira wa gutetera ng’ombe
icio. Riu ngiri na gikeno kinene ni undu wakuonana na inyui ndikim-
wire ati mutokaa ucio witu wa thi nduri gituri andu aria tuutwaraga
tuthiururukaga thi yothe. Undu ungi nguuga ni ati gutiri Muikamba
na Mugikuyu acio eri ni ciana cia nyina umwe, tondu ucio twagiriiruo
ni kutwara mutokaa witu twi hamwe. Kiugo giakwa gia keri ni giki. Ati
twiciirie uria andu aitu mekiraga mathaga, njuuge atiriri, ruriri ruitu
rwa andu airu mwanake niethondekaga muiritu agethondeka, niguo
mathakare. Uguo methondekaga niguo naithui twagiriiruo ni gwith-
kenyatta is our reconciler
365
After lunch we decided to go downhill to the valley in which
Machakos Town sits. Th
ere we found a lot of people—over four thou-
sand—who were pressing each other eagerly, everybody trying to get a
glimpse of Jomo Kenyatta. Th
en we entered the big tent where the Tea
Party was prepared. Aft er Tea, the invited guests left the tent to go to a
fenced enclosure prepared for the meeting itself. Th
ere we found many
tribespeople, sitting and waiting for the speakers. Once the newcomers
were told to sit down like the others, the association’s chairman, Mr
Douglas Mbugua, told the crowd the reasons for the Tea Party. Th
e
fi rst was to give people a chance to meet Jomo Kenyatta aft er his recent
return from Europe.
The second reason was to give them an occasion to open their
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