The name is absent

She ended the interview with the Kikuyu proverb, "Mukaruri tiwe muthamaki”
which means, “A confiscator is not God.”⁴⁶

This story is not unique but could be heard throughout Kenya with various
forms playing out worldwide. It was not coincidental or haphazard that women
took the Mau Mau oath to build a new Kenya. Women fully recognized how their
own feminine power could be used to forge a new direction in the war activities
and in the new independent society. The involvement of women in the oathing
process was revolutionary and symbolic for all who participated. It meant a new
place in male-female relations where oathing became inclusive.

Kakie’s Testimony: A Silent Story?

Kakie’s testimony is powerful in what it includes and also what it excludes.
Interestingly, she outright avoids any discussion of the Mau Mau experience that
violated her as a woman differently from how men were violated. These are
topics that many women do not feel comfortable discussing publicly or even
privately. Thus, we should question the statements missing from the testimony.
There is a level of self imposed silencing in parts of this gender study. Part of this
silencing entailed women often feeling that their personal testimonies or
uniqueness were not of value, thereby emphasizing the areas that were believed
to be important.

Based on Kakie’s testimony, it is obvious that men and women alike had
the same underlying motivations and reasons for participating in Mau Mau and

⁴⁶ Interview, S. Kakie, January 2009, Machakos, Kenya.

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