I Refuse to Die by Koigi Wa Wamwere

Author:Koigi Wa Wamwere [Wamwere, Koigi Wa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60980-237-0
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2011-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

Fire and Blood

After the demonstration, Kenyatta was said to have summoned the head of his bodyguards and called him a dog for exposing the president to embarrassment. That apart, nothing was done to solve NDEFFO problems. Emboldened by government inaction, the defeated, corrupt directors now started openly to organize a war by evicting the people who had won elections from NDEFFO farms. They wrote a declaration of war and pinned it on buildings and tree trunks all over the property. The declaration was shown to the police, yet, as before, they did nothing. The newly elected directors were compelled to write a reply to the declaration of war and post it. Its language was chilling: “In your declaration of war against us, you have promised to burn our houses and uproot our crops. In return we promise you one thing. If you burn one house belonging to us, we shall burn all your houses. If you uproot one crop belonging to us, we shall mow down your whole fields. If you chop off one of our ears, your heads will roll.” Meant to scare, this language did not deter the old directors from planning their war. Instead, the reply became a prophecy that was fulfilled to the minutest detail.

The old directors prepared for war as if there were no government in Kenya. Trucks openly ferried weapons and fighters from one farm to the other. The fighting started in a farm called Karirikania (the reminder), at 3 A.M. on July 20, 1975. One new director popularly called Gentleman was attacked by an armed group of about seven men. They tried to draw him out of his house to kill him. When they attempted to get into the house, they suffered the injuries of one who follows a bee into its hive. In turn, Gentleman had machete cuts everywhere on his body—head, hands, arms and legs. But he was alive and his attackers had fled. Another old man called Mataceca (the one not to be toyed with) and his father, Githaiga, were almost untouched. Yet they had killed three of their attackers. When the new directors arrived in town after fighting from 3 A.M. till dawn, the old were as excited as the young.

On receiving them, we did not dare take the wounded to the government hospital. We feared for their freedom. Instead we took them into a laundry room that belonged to one of the new directors. The police had moved into Karirikania when the fighting was reported, but made only a few arrests.

Near Nakuru town on Engoshura farm, the old directors were preparing for another battle. They slaughtered a cow, ate, drank and said prayers. When they emerged from feasting, they formed lines of battle, hoisted a red flag on a high post and started marching toward the homes of their opponents.

A little earlier, Mungai had been at the farm to check the state of affairs. When he was told that war was nigh, his reply was shocking: Let the cowards lose.

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