In the history of Kenya’s freedom fighters many names are spoken and one name echoes with adiffernt kind of power General Kago. He was not only just a maumau fighter but a skilledcommander. To his enemies he was too good and so feared they gave him the name TheBlackNapoleon after the well known napoleon hill. To his comrades the mau mau warriors and thelocal people he was called Makanyaga meaning The Crusher.
This is the story of a man who used his master’s training to resist them. Before he was a Mau Mau general, he was simply known as Chege wa Kariuki, a young man from Rwathia in Kangema. In the 1940s, World War 2 was being fought, and like many others at the time under British colonization, he was drafted to fight for the Queen.
He was sent to places like Asia and the Middle East as part of the Allied Forces. In that war, he learned everything the British military knew: tactics, discipline, and how to lead and command, and this experience changed him as a person and secured his role as a freedom fighter for Kenya. When he came home, he returned to a country where he was still treated as a second-class citizen despite having been given false promises before the war by the colonial masters, which were the conditions of their war in the first place.
When the Mau Mau Uprising began, Chegewa Kariuki made a choice: he took his high-level military training and joined the fight against his former comrades. He went to the forest and became General Kago. General Kago wasn’t a typical guerrilla fighter; by fighting and hiding in the shadows, he was a full-on commander.
He led a massive group of fighters in Murang’a, known as Mbutu cia ruguru batalion. They were organized, disciplined, and brave. General Kagos’ tactics were well thought out. He would attack in daylight while many preferred night. Kago was known to march his army openly, sometimes even flying the Mau Mau flag, just as he had seen in World War II. He didn’t just hit easy targets; he wanted the big fish. He led successful raids on heavily armed police
station like the Kiriaini Police station and colonial government offices to seize guns and release prisoners while still delivering a blow to the colonial government. He used his knowledge of the Murang’a hills and valleys to ambush British caravans and outsmart troops sent to capture him. He was so effective that he became one of the most wanted men in the colony.
For two years, Chege wa Kariuki was a thorn in the side of the colonial government, but on 31st March 1954, his luck finished. During a battle against colonial forces in Kigumo, General Kago was shot and captured. The colonial soldiers who had been outsmarted by him for so long showed no mercy and killed him on the spot. He died a warrior’s death fighting for the land he was born and raised on.
Today, his name is not forgotten. He is remembered as one of the most brilliant and fearless commanders of the Mau Mau. In his hometown of Kangema, they built the General Kago stadium that stands in his honor as a reminder of the man who, with no fear, fought to be free, and this should be a wake-up call to all Kenyans heading into the next elections to show them how their ancestors gave up their lives for the freedom of this country that we all love and cherish
