The name is absent

Although this book shifts the interpretation of Mau Mau from a European myth to
a movement of purpose, the work spends very little time analyzing oathing
ceremonies. Instead it focuses on oath unity and examining pre-Mau Mau
resistance (i.e. Kenya African Union (KAU), Kikuyu Central Association (KCA),
and Olenguruone location) origins of the oath showing the “growth of militant
politics” in Kenya.²⁵ However, the dominant oath theme studied is unity as it
relates to nationalism in Kenya.²⁶

Perspectives of Waruhiu Itote

Waruhiu Itote writes in his book, Mau Mau General, about his personal
struggle to bring freedom to Kenya by going into the forest and fighting.²⁷ Itote
traces the beginning of social unrest in Kenya to 1919 when the Kenyan colonial
government passed an ordinance where Africans had to be taken to European
farms by force and to pay taxes per household. Itote shows that after WWI,
social and economic frustrations grew, and Africans began to form political
associations as an outlet for these concerns. Jomo Kenyatta became the link
between all of the different African associations with his leadership growing out of
involvement in the KAU. Itote held that Kenyatta was the inspiration behind the
fight for freedom.

However, African political involvement and concerns by the 1950s fell on
deaf ears as the Kenyan government made no attempts to respond. Itote states
it was at this moment when Africans believed there were no political options and
²⁵ Rosberg and Nottingham, The Myth of “Mau Mau ”, 248-261.

^2δ Rosberg and Nottingham, The Myth of “Mau Mau ”, 241.

²⁷ Waruhiu Itote, Mau Mau General, (Nairobi: East African Pub. House, 1967), 5.

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