Waiting for Mathenge six decades later, freedom hero's wife speaks out

General Mathenge's window Miriam Muthoni. [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

This is a story of love that started from the woods and brought together two warriors who would later on be part of the struggle for independence.

That was in 1952 during the state of emergency.

Sixty-eight years later, she is still waiting for him after he disappeared into the forest never to be seen again.

A lone dense forest with a road under construction, leads us to the home of the widow of General Mathenge in Mweiga, Nyeri County. We meet Miriam Muthoni Mathenge, who like her husband, fought for Kenya’s independence.

Old age has caught up with her and she can barely do much on her own. Despite that, she is a joyous soul fully aware of the country’s history.

Her long stay in the forest denied her a chance to learn proper Kiswahili, but she tries to communicate.

Vast forest

“I was born in Othaya where former President Mwai Kibaki lives. We had plenty of trees and when (President Jomo) Kenyatta gave me land, I moved to Nyeri and chose this vast forest,” she says.

Her 53-acre farm sits at the heart of a forest. She has fought so hard to conserve the forest, wading off charcoal burners from encroaching into her territory.

She says she would like to write and we hand her a book and a pen. She writes her name, pronouncing it letter after letter. She then looks up, with a glare brightening her face.

Miriam says she went to school for two years and learnt how to read and count up to five hundred. She remembers vividly how she met General Mathenge.

They were neighbours and Mathenge used to observe her from a distance. He did not have the courage to speak directly to her, so a mutual friend, Machira, would relay his messages.

“I used to talk to Machira a lot. General Mathenge left for war and when he came back, he decide to come home to see my father,” she recalls. They were married in 1953, around the time of World War II.

“Mathenge told my father that I was his choice but he was afraid that I was not talking to him,” she says with a chuckle. 

If life gave her another shot at love, she would still choose Mathenge, she says.

“I am proud to be called Wa Mathenge and I wouldn’t trade it for another person’s name. In fact, I can’t allow someone else to come and sit here. I belong to Mathenge,” she says.

Despite the joy she gets when she remembers her beloved Mathenge, it reminds her of the bitter struggle for independence. 

“When I was detained, my daughter was two years old. I was beaten up by about 20 police officers while a whiteman pulled my hair. Ah! It was a bad experience,” Miriam says.

The struggle for independence was gaining momentum. Freedom fighters, both men and women, had to be sworn to secrecy. “We took oaths and some had to swear about five or six times. The fine for giving in to the whiteman was death,” she says.

After Mathenge left to fight in the forest, she was arrested and thrown into a temporary jail with Mama Ngina Kenyatta.

“I was detained at Othaya for a year and a half, then at Kamiti for seven years. My work was to clean up a lorry that used to ferry the dead,” she says.

Her crime was failing to reveal whereabouts of Mathenge who was regarded by the colonial masters as the Mau Mau leader in Kenya. 

Last born

Her children Wanjiru and Mwangi suffered a lot during the struggle. She calls on Wanjiru, her last born daughter throughout the interview. She is her closest companion and she keeps account of what she can’t remember. 

“We left our children suffering like dogs since no one could give them food,” she says.

Miriam gets upset when she sees how Kenyans take freedom for granted. “Freedom is very expensive. Many men and women died in the process, Kenyans should stop taking freedom for granted. Warriors left their families to suffer as they fought for this freedom,” she says.

But the honour of being called a freedom fighter does not bring joy to her soul because she feels the government has not done much for them.

“The government is building this road leading to my place but I am not taken care of as I should be,” she says. 

We ask to see her long dreadlocks covered in a headscarf. She declines, saying removing her headscarf will expose her to fungal diseases and people will laugh at her. Will she trim them? “I won’t trim them because I have not enjoyed fruits of independence that I fought for in the forest together with other Mau Mau fighters. When a freedom fighter passes on, their families should be well taken care of because we lost a lot for this country,” she says. 

Her emotions change when the subject on whereabouts of General Mathenge is introduced. 

“I have no idea where Mathenge is because he left for the forest. I would love him to come back so that we can live as husband and wife,” she says.  

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