Why Mashujaa Day spirit misses the mark

Security personnel march during rehearsals ahead of Mashujaa Day at Kipchoge Keino Stadium. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

The challenges that led to what Kenyans celebrate as Mashujaa Day refuse to go away. They continue to dog the nation six decades after independence. But do Kenyans even know their true heroes who should be celebrated on this day?

We knew the day as Kenyatta Day, marking the occasion when colonial authorities arrested Jomo Kenyatta at the start of the 1952 state of emergency. The operation went beyond Mzee Kenyatta to net other heroes of Kenya’s independence struggle and members of the Kenya Land Freedom Army, also known as the Mau Mau. Mau Mau was itself dreaded right into independence, leading to the vaporisation of the champions from the national memory while what the struggle was against continues in other guises, under new masters.