Kenya's history through Uhuru Gardens' relics and treasures

Tunnel of martyrs at Uhuru Gardens. [George Maringa, Standard]

The walls of the Hall of Witness come alive when darkness, kinder to the indoor and outdoor LED displays, sets in. The view of the glowing building is most vivid from across the main museum structure, at the banks of a replica Mara River, where a sculpted crocodile digs its teeth into the belly of an escaping model wildebeest.

From the Hall of Witness, one sinks into the dark cavernous Tunnel of Martyrs, the second gallery. Etched on its cardboard walls are names of the shujaas (heroes) who have "paid the ultimate price for the love of country," the project's lead architect Peter Wasilwa, said on Monday.

There are names of those who lost their lives in the struggle for independence and of soldiers whose blood has soaked battlefields in the decades that followed.

The tunnel ushers the Hall of the People, which chronicles the history of pre and post-independent history in the ancient and modern galleries within its two floors - ground and first. Galleries on the second floor are yet to be completed.

Among artefacts preserved in the galleries include the skeleton of the 'Turkana Boy,' a 1.5-million-year-old fossil discovered by palaeontologist Richard Leakey in Turkana, among other prehistoric cultural artefacts from across the country such as garments and beads.

And the journey of pre-colonial and colonial Kenya is told by an animation of an old man to his grandchildren at a fireplace, as displayed by projector screens. Equally important, it is told by the historical materials preserved for more than a century.

They include one of the earliest steam trains, Locomotive 2401, which journeyed through the Lunatic Express in the 1890s and statues of the of Indian heritage constructing the railway. So grand was the locomotives that they needed two drivers to brake. Another steam train, which will soon be converted into a restaurant, sits outdoors.

Former President Daniel Moi's famous rungu. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

The museum also chronicles the history of Kenya's military. From the roof of the Military Heritage gallery hangs a decommissioned Hughes 500MD helicopter as well as a Bulldog aircraft. Military tanks and other paraphernalia sit below the room decorated with the colours of the military's three branches.

Other features include a Hall of Innovation, which celebrates the innovative ideas produced by Kenyans. As he welcomed the Press to the amenity, President Kenyatta said it was meant to be a place to "celebrate the good, see the bad and remember the ugly."

Indeed, the good will be remembered even outside the walls of the main museum building and in the 68 acres that form the historic grounds where freedom fighters were detained.

Decorating the memorial park is the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, where an eternal flame burns in honour of the heroes who lost their lives fighting for the country. Their memory will live on at Mashujaa Park, where commemoration tombstones will be placed.

"Even though we cannot bury them here, we will honour them by having tombstones engraved with their names," Chief of Defence Forces General Robert Kibochi said on Tuesday.

And the public will have a recreational park, 'the Garden of the People', designed to fit 50,000 and which will be used during national celebrations. The park's renovation began in August 2020 and is being undertaken by the Kenya Defence Forces, who project to have all its 33 galleries completed by 2025.

-An earlier version of this story said that two sculptures of Mekatilili wa Menza face each other at the entrance of the Uhuru Gardens Museum. The correct position is that a sculpture of Mekatilili faces that of Dedan Kimathi. The story has also been updated to clarify that Kenyans from different professional backgrounds will access the museum starting next week Friday (August 5, 2022).