The name is absent

accounts, but other details differed. Muinde explains his experiences as one
where:

“...a grass collar was put round my neck, goat skin was put round my wrist
and I was given earth to hold to my stomach. The accused then told me that
the soil was ours and had been stolen by the Europeans and that we were
uniting to get it back. The accused then told me to pass through an arch of
grass seven times and this I did. The accused then gave me three pieces of
meat to bite. A piece of stick was then put through the hollow bone of a
goat’s neck, and this was put on my right shoulder. I then had to perform a
sawing motion with the stick...seven times. “^eo

Muinde’s testimony provides much more detail that was not mentioned in
the oathing statements on October 27, 1953. Symbolic practices like the
exchange of blood would have been practiced in the other rituals because of our
understanding of its traditional and symbolic meaning. So, there are many
questions that are left unanswered. Were these practices overlooked as
unnecessary details? If overlooked by both accounts, why? If eliminated, was this
done to keep the case details simplified? If this was the case, some decision had
to occur to determine the level of detail necessary to convict the accused. Who
was the decision maker? These statements are here to here to question the court
process of the handling of information collected, analyzed, and documented.
This is particularly important in understanding these colonial documents because
of the politics and agenda of the period.

⁶⁰ Testimony OfWilliamNzango S/0 Muinde, Third Class Magistrate Court at Machakos, case 60, 1953.
KNAMLA 1/791 p. 1.

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