Dedan Kimathi: The Hero from Tetu

Tetu district is the home of the renowned freedom fighter, Dedan Kimathi Waciuri.

A member of the Mau Mau freedom fighters, Mr. Kimathi led troops who waged a sustained war against the British colonialists.

Freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi Waciuri

At school, where he was a debate club member, Kimathi perfected his mastery of the English language besides honing his leadership skills.

Dedan Kimathi taught for a while at Karuna-ini primary school and did other clerical jobs before he joined the freedom fighters movement in the Aberdares forest in early 1953.

A deeply religious person, he would later employ all these skills during the Mau Mau uprising.

Kimathi was wounded and arrested near Karuna-ini by the colonial forces in October 1956. Taken to court, Chief Justice Sir Kenneth O'Connor sentenced the freedom fighter to death while he was still recovering at the Nyeri General Hospital from the gunshot wounds.

In the early morning of February 18, 1957, Mr. Kimathi was executed by the colonial government. The man who embodied the struggle for independence in Kenya is buried in an unmarked grave at Kamiti maximum prison.

The post-independence governments of Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi declined to honour Mr. Kimathi and it was not until December 11, 2006, that the Kibaki government finally decided to honour him by unveiling his monument at the junction of Nairobi's Kimathi and Mama Ngina streets.