Unajua?– During colonialism, it was illegal for Kenyans to plant cash crops like coffee, which was one of the causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion.

British colonialism, which started in the late 19th century, made life hard for Kenyans. Throughout colonialism when attacked by British colonialists, Kenyans fought back.

Eventually the Mau Mau Rebellion broke out to free Kenyans from colonialism.

The Rebellion was a war between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) and the British colonial government. Mau Mau is used to describe KLFA members who were mostly of the Kikuyu, Meru, Embu and Maasai ethnic groups.

Mau Mau fought to get their land and freedom back. They used to say Wiyathi na ithaka, which means land and freedom in the Kikuyu language.

The Mau Mau war came after years of countless movements against colonial rule in Kenya, like the Nandi Resistance (1895-1905) and the Giriama Uprising (1913-14).

This article is about 5 causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion. The causes for the war are many and complex but they generally have to do with Kenyan land and freedom. 

This article is part of the African Independence Movements series

5 Main Causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya | African Independence Movements

MUHTASARI

During colonialism in Kenya the KLFA fought to get their land and freedom back from the British colonial government that ruled Kenyans brutally.

Click to Read: What is West African Art?

Before You get to reading…

What was the Mau Mau Rebellion?

The Mau Mau Rebellion was a war between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) and Britain. It started in October of 1952 when a State of Emergency was declared in the colony.

Who led the Mau Mau Rebellion?

The Mau Mau Rebellion was led by Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi who was the leader of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. There were other Field Marshals like Musa Mwariama, Kubu Kubu, Waruhiu Itote (General China) and Muthoni Kirima.

Meaning of Mau Mau

The origin of the name Mau Mau is unknown but it might be linked to the Maji Maji Rebellion from Tanzania.

How did the Mau Mau Rebellion end?

When Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi was captured, and later killed, by the British military the Mau Mau Rebellion was declared over but some KLFA members continued the fight until after Kenya’s independence from Britain in 1963.

Cause of the Mau Mau Rebellion: LAND 

#1 cause of the Mau Mau Rebellion

Loss of land and forced removals (land alienation)

During colonialism, people, especially those living in the Great Rift Valley in central Kenya like the Kikuyu, Kalenjin and Maasai were kicked out from their lands.

Land in central Kenya is very good for farming (it is fertile) and it is why European colonialists took those lands and called them the White Highlands.

The 1915 Crown Lands Ordinance in Kenya said that all land in British East Africa (Kenya and Somalia) belonged to Britain whether people lived on the land or not.

Oftentimes people like the Maasai were forced to sign agreements to give their lands to Britain and moved to “Native Reserves”, see the 1911 Second Maasai Agreement.

The Kenya Land and Freedom Army fought to get their land back from Britain and land loss was one of the main causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion.

The British colonial government brought in Europeans to grow cash crops, like coffee and tea, to pay for the Uganda Railway.

The Uganda Railway was built by Britain to connect its colonies to the Indian Ocean which would allow them to transport the cash crops for sale overseas.

Almost all people that built the railway came from British India. The construction of the Uganda Railway was strongly resisted by the Nandi people, on whose land was the railway.

Both images: The National Archives UK, OGL v1.0OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

READ: 25 Beautiful African Royalty Outfits From The Past

#2 cause of the Mau Mau Rebellion

Displacements and “Native Reserves”

Kenyans were moved to less fertile lands, often to “Native Reserves”, because they could not live in the White Highlands. When they stayed on their land they were called squatters.

Native Reserves were usually on less fertile land and overcrowded. Different ethnic groups were never put together (see the divide and rule strategy).

In the reserves Kenyans had to follow unjust laws having to do with taxes (see the Hut Tax), forced labour and free movement.

After the Nandi Resistance, the Nandi people were the first people put in reserves for resisting the construction of the Uganda Railway.

This land division was one of the main causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion and it still affects Kenyans, just like the South African Natives Land Act and American Redlining.

Ninara, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

10 African Nationalists And Their Contributions

10 African Nationalists And Their Contributions

Cause of the Mau Mau Rebellion: FREEDOM

#3 cause of the Mau Mau Rebellion

Forced labour

After losing their land, from which they grew food and often being put into reserves and having to pay a Hut Tax Kenyans usually had no choice but to work for Europeans.

Kenyans, including children, were overworked and underpaid in unsafe workplaces.

Europeans had mostly Kikuyu people work on their tea, coffee and sisal plantations but also building infrastructure.

During the Mau Mau Rebellion the British colonial government forced many people to work, despite the ILO ban on forced labour. For example the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was built with forced labour.

During the Second World War, people and goods from Kenya were important for Britain. Almost 100,000 Kenyans fought for Britain in WWII.

One of the main causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion was forced labour.

>> Causes Of Resistance Movements In Africa During Imperialism <<

For colonialists Africans were only seen as workers to grow Britains economy and not as equals to Britons or Europeans.

It was a racist way of thinking, like the one of Americans and Europeans that took part in the transatlantic slave trade when it was acceptable to own, as property, a fellow human being.

Throughout colonialism when Africans refused to work for Europeans it was seen as an African rebellion, resistance or uprising and not an independence movement.

The image above shows a man working as a porter for Europeans who saw him as “A good average Swahill porter, Height 5 ft. 7 in. Round chest 30 in. Round biceps 11 in.”

Read about 9 Major Independence Movements in Africa >>over here<<

Image: IWM (K 2339); The National Archives UK, OGL v1.0OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

9 Major Independence Movements In Africa For You To Study

#4 cause of the Mau Mau Rebellion

Unjust laws

During colonialism Kenyans lived under unjust laws made by the British colonial government. Below are only some examples.

Kenyans were not allowed to own their ancestral lands and were banned from growing cash crops, like coffee, so that only Europeans could grow them.

Kenyans had to pay a Hut Tax that gave them no choice but to work for Europeans.

The colour bar, like the one in Apartheid South Africa or the American Jim Crow Laws was unjust. For example, in a train in colonial Kenya the first class was for Europeans, the second for Indians and the last for Africans.

Not following these unjust laws meant a fine, imprisonment or both at a time when summary executions happened often, especially during the Mau Mau Rebellion.

The Mau Mau War is 1 of 9 Major African Independence Movements >here<

These laws hurt, and led to the death of countless Kenyans; they were one of the main causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion.

After The Native Registration Amendment Ordinance of 1920 all African men, and boys over the age of 15, had to always wear a kipande around their necks.

A Kipande was an identity document (ID) that had personal information of the man or boy, fingerprints and an employment history for colonialists to track their “workers”.

During the Mau Mau War, Kikuyu, Embu and Meru people in particular needed identity cards and passbooks when traveling or else they would be arrested by the police.

Image: IWM (MAU 552); Noah Akala, M.D, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

9 Major Independence Movements In Africa For You

9 Major Independence Movements In Africa For You To Study

#5 cause of the Mau Mau Rebellion

Kenyans were not ruled by Kenyans

Colonialism happened when British colonialists invaded Kenya land and made Kenyans follow colonialist laws.

The KLFA fought because they did not want to be ruled by the British colonial government.

Africans were not allowed to work for the government until 1944 when Eliud Mathu was appointed to the Legislative Council of Kenya.

The Kenya African Union (KAU) was an important political organization for African nationalists founded in 1944.

How many African nationalists do you know? Find out here

One of the main causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion was the fact that Britain ruled Kenyans without Kenyans wanting it.

The British colonial government payed Africans loyal to Britain to work as middlemen, usually as “chiefs”, between colonialists and Kenyans.

Kikuyu “chiefs” were positions made up by the British to control Kikuyu people.

During the Mau Mau Rebellion African loyalists joined the Home guard which was government paramilitary force which was particularly cruel towards people.

At the start of the Mau Mau Rebellion the loyalist Chief Waruhiu was assassinated. Shortly after another chief important to the British colonial government, Chief Nderi, was killed by the KLFA.

10 African Nationalists And Their Contributions

10 African Nationalists And Their Contributions

Both images: The National Archives UK, OGL v1.0OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Continue reading, friend

THINK ABOUT IT! Do any of the causes of the Mau Mau Rebellion still happen today?

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

~ African Proverb ~

Word Bank📚🧑🏿‍🏫

Ancestral

Cash crop

Ethnic Group

Fertile (land)

ILO 

The ILO stands for the International Labour Organization.

Infrastructure

Invasion

Land alienation

Native Reserve

Paramilitary

State of Emergency

Summary execution 

Squatter

Read More Friend! 🙏🏿 

Books

Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 

Dreams in a Time of War by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 

Imperial Reckoning by Caroline Elkins

In the Interpreter’s House by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 

Papers

Carcerality and the legacies of settler colonial punishment in Nairobi, Annie Pfingst and Wangui Kimari

History of the Parliament of Kenya

The Historical Process of Nandi Mmovement into Uasin Gishu District of the Kenya Highlands: 1906-1963 by Abraham Kibet Arap Lagat

The Treaties That Rendered the Maasai Landless by Rose T Ruto (2005) from University of Nairobi, Kenya

Parliamentary sittings

COLOUR BAR (ABOLITION), 1953

NATIVE RESERVES, 1931

References

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! – Amos 5:24

This post was all about causes of Mau Mau Rebellion