Joseph Muthee

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Joseph Muthee was born around 1928 on a farm that belonged to the European settler, Captain C. O’Hagan. His mother worked in the farm as well as his grandfather, Mzee Gathuri, who had emigrated to the colonial settler farms to search for a better livelihood for his family and settled there as a squatter. A couple of years later the family moved out of the O’Hagan farm as Muthee’s grandfather went back to the native reserves after having enough of working for the white man.

In 1937 Muthee started going to school, the same year that he was baptised as a Christian. However, he went to Kabiruini Primary School that was run by Africans under the Kikuyu Independent Schools Association, in an attempt to counter the Christian schools that were set up by missionaries. He did his Common Exam in class three and proceeded to Government School Kagumo in 1942. He quit school almost then and went to look for work in the farms of Captain O’Hagan where he had been born.

Initially O’Hagan thought him too young, but was to later officially employ him in 1945 due to his flair of English and simple arithmetic. By then the Second World War had started and soldiers were often visiting O’Hagan’s farm as they passed the country, making Muthee learn their ways fast and befriend them. Muthee was employed as a clerk in the Dairy farm, and doubled up as the local musician and guitarist.

The war for Kenyan Independence escalated immediately the World War ended, and the Mau mau guerrilla movement moved into the bushes to fight. By then he was newly married to Grace and already had his first child. On November 1951, the Mau mau administered the first oath of allegiance to Muthee and he became active as an informer for the movement. On October 20th 1952, the colonial government declared a state of emergency in Kenya, marking a rise in hardships for Muthee and other Kenyans.

On April 10th 1954 he was finally tricked by Captain O’Hagan and arrested as a Mau mau sympathiser. He was first taken to Nanyuki Military camp and from there to the Mackinon Road detention Camp. In 1955 October he was moved to Manyani detention camp after being labelled a hardcore Mau mau insurgent. After a short stint in which he refused to cooperate with the interrogators in Manyani he was taken to Mageta Island where those suspected to be strong mau mau adherents were taken to die. Shortly afterwards the British government started softening their stand against mau mau detainees as it was proving scandalous as a human rights issue. Under the pipeline system of trying to rehabilitate them, Muthee was taken to Athi River detention camp, the headquarters of the interrogation and rehabilitation programme. After failing to cooperate again he was taken back to Manyani Camp for the second time for torture and hard labour. He was later taken to the Mwea 1 labour camp. A short stint there he was taken to the Karatina Camp en route to the Kangubiri camp. Here torture was the order of the day. He was then taken back to the Karatina camp, and on 14th January 1959 he was set free from detention.

He went back to Gikumbo to start his life again, but life proved hard. He went to work for a European called Deki in his dairy farm on 1960 February, but quit a shortly afterwards in June the same year due to racism. He went back to his home in August to find he had been elected KANU youth leader in absentia.

In 1964 he contested the Assistant Chief’s position in Ragati and lost, and settled for being a small scale farmer, a job that he has done up to today while selling his produce in Karatina Market.

He has served as a committee member in various schools in his region including Miembano Primary School, and Gikumbo High School. He served as an Assistant Secretary in both Schools’ committee in 1974. His wife Grace died in 1985 and since then he has taken care of his farm and reared his children to where they are today.

He is the author of the recently published book "Kizuizini" about his life as a Mau Mau detainee