The name is absent

Although this book offers another much needed contribution to
understanding Mau Mau from the insider perspective, the oath statements that
are provided are given without much commentary. Itote mentions that the
strength of Mau Mau was the conviction and belief that “whatever will be the
outcome, or whatever will happen, the African people of Kenya would eventually
be independent.”³² However, the role of the Mau Mau oath is not central to his
narrative.

Perspectives of Henry Kahinga Wachanga

Henry Kahinga Wachanga also adds to the historiography with his book,
The Swords of Kirinyaga, which is another treatment of the movement from the
perspective of a key leader. This book focuses mostly on the activities of leaders
from 1952 to 1957. Unlike Itote, Wachanga emphasizes the importance of the
Mau Mau oath to the success and overall operation of the liberation struggle. As
a result, Wachanga begins his narrative outlining not the grievances that led up
to the war or the formation of political organizations, but instead begins with the
Gikuyu oaths. He states,

“The importance of our traditional oaths must never be under-estimated.
Taking an oath was our special way of binding the people together. Just as
other nations of the world have their own peculiar oaths of allegiance, we had
traditional oaths of the following types: witchcraft, paternity, theft, land and
battle.”³³

This account is rich as it shows his view of the oath heritage and praise.
Wachanga does not go extensively into various oath ceremonies like some

³² Itote, Маи Май in Action, 7.

³³ Wachanga, The Swords of Kirinyaga (Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau, 1975), 1.

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