Colonial prison guard demands Sh25m to locate Kimathi grave

A former Baringo prison warden has reduced his monetary demands to Sh25 million to locate the secret graveyard of Mau Mau freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi.

Mzee Samuel Arap Toroitich, 89, comes from Tuloi-Turkubei village in Ossen, Baringo North, and was a prison guard during colonial times.

Toroitich on Sunday said he did not receive any response when he demanded Sh50 million last week to locate the remains of Kimathi.

"I now require Sh25 million only to show up and pinpoint the place where Kenya’s legendary freedom fighter was secretly buried back in 1957,” Toroitich told the Star on Sunday.

When asked why he wanted to give away the secret, he said he is growing old “and I have never had peace in my life since and so I want to enjoy my old age gracefully and finally go into my grave peacefully.” 

He said he can locate Kimathi’s graveyard somewhere near Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Nairobi "with my eyes closed". 

The veteran told the government to cooperate and use underground metal detectors to locate and exhume the body saying he is the only human who was buried with metallic handcuffs locally referred to as ’Machekere’ during the colonial era.

Totoitich first made the claims in 2o1o but no one contacted him.

Kimathi was convicted and executed for purported murder and terrorism on February 18, 1957.

“It was around 1pm when some white security officers marched inside Kamiti prison carrying the body of a black man whom we later learnt was of the freedom fighter- Kimathi,” Toroitich said.

He said both his hands were still had handcuffed. The colonialists said they shot him dead in Roysambu. 

Toroitich recalls the white officers who served under the colonial governor Sir Malcolm Macdonald as Whitley, Bryson, and Hawker - who was nicknamed ‘shetani’ for his inhuman deeds. 

The former prison warden said he was among the seven senior African prison officers selected to guard Kimathi's body until late in the night.

He listed his other colleagues as Tugen officers Sergeant Cheptogoch from Kabarnet, Sergeant Komen, two officers from Nandi and two from Kuria.

“Although I am not sure by now whether they are still alive.” 

He said they guarded the body until 2am at ‘devil silent dawn' when they were ordered to secretly escort and bury Kimathi at an undisclosed location and “we were asked to keep the secret”. 

“My brain is still fresh. We laid him in the grave with the handcuffs locked on his hands and legs at a secluded place only known to me and my six colleagues.” 

He said he is ready to show up anytime he is called as long as the money is ready in cash. 

“Because in our Tugen culture, a prize must be paid for anybody who helps to locate the fossils of a departed person,” Toroitch said.

He said there must be a cleansing ceremony, which demands to slaughter a number of sheep in a ceremony graced by an anointed group of elders to appease the gods, “otherwise the act itself is considered evil and bad”. 

The few surviving veterans now, including Kimathi’s family, feel they did not enjoy the freedom they fought for in Kenya.

"If we fought through half of the independence, give us guns and we'll fight for the other half. Kenya government should ask the British government to reveal the spot where Kimathi was buried," Mau Mau veteran Brigadier Kiboko said.

They spoke at Dedan Kimathi Memorial High School on February 18.

The family insists they would want to know the spot where Kimathi was buried. 

But the government has declined to issue exhumation orders to the family.

Edited by R.Wamochie