He was one of the Kapenguria Six that included Jomo Kenyatta, Kung’u Karumba, Bildad Kaggia, Paul Ngei and Achieng Oneko, who were charged for unlawfully “managing the Mau Mau.”
Fred Kubai was arrested on October 22, 1952, when Governor Sir Evelyn Baring declared the State of Emergency after colonial Senior Chief Waruhiu was murdered Mafia-style in Kiambu in a hit planned by the Muhimu, a unit in the Mau Mau high command to which Kubai and Karumba were members.