By Dr Kyalo Muli – National Patron, Anzauni Clan
Long before the colonialists came to Africa, the Akamba were already a power to reckon with in East Africa.
They were the dominant community in trade, art and medicine.
As soon as the first white men set foot on Africa, they encountered these aggressive traders. They are the ones who took them inside East Africa as they were already familiar with all the routes and all the people from the Coast to Lake Turkana.
But it’s due to their wit and bravery that they were the first casualties of colonialism. They had to be neutralised in order that the Mzungu could dominate Kenya.
There is no early record of British East African history that does not talk of the Akamba. Many journals have described the Akamba as the “premier martial race” while others describe Akamba warriors as “the soldiers of the Queen”.
For Colonialism to succeed, the Akamba had to be destroyed. Their culture destroyed. All the traditions destroyed and replaced with modern colonialist ideals. Their means of survival were completely destroyed and instead the Akamba were huddled into a corner completely at the mercy of colonialists. Their survival now was through working with the colonialists as askaris and carrier corps in their various wars. And even there, the Akamba stood out.
Kenya’s independence was achieved through the blood of patriots. Among these were many from the Akamba community. Independence should have made sure that each community got back whatever they had lost through colonialism. But this never happened for the Akamba.
Sixty years after independence and the Akamba have never regained their past glory. They are still like sheep without a shepherd, many times behaving like fish out of water. And every Kamba leader who has managed to get a chance to jump out of the rat race has only had one thing in mind:- their own personal survival.
The very fabric that kept the Akamba community strong and dominant, their clans and traditions are all but gone.
And it’s high time we got these back.
We must rebuild our clan fabric. We must rebuild our traditional fabric that made us the greatest people in the region. We need our courage back. We need our strength back.
It’s now or never.
Kitui Newspaper 