Exploring Nairobi: A Journey Through Time – Part IX

Turning onto Kimathi Street, formerly known as Hardinge Street during the colonial period after the first Administrator of the Kenya Protectorate, Sir Arthur Hardinge, we made our way to the Thorn Tree Restaurant for a cup of coffee, pausing first to acknowledge the Dedan Kimathi Statue. It was erected on August 15, 2007, in honor of Dedan Kimathi, a rebel field marshal fighting against British colonial authorities during the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s.

“A relentless campaign to capture Kimathi and his insurgents was launched by the British colonial government’s tribal police that ended up capturing him alone early on October 21, 1956. After a laborious and intricate trial, on November 19, 1956 at the Supreme Court of Kenya in Nyeri, Chief Justice Kenneth O’Connor found Kimathi guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, actions made illegal by the Emergency Regulations put in place by the British Government in an attempt to quell the violence of the rebellion. In the early hours of February 18, 1957, Kimathi was hanged to death at Kamiti prison and, according to documentation, buried within its grounds,” I narrated.