Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: KenyanPlato on February 17, 2023, 08:43:37 AM
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Plato its Mwariama derived from mwaria(speaker) ma(Truth) so meaning speaker of truth,he is most famous of all Meru Generals in mau mau,however not as fierce as Field marshal Baimunge Marete who is in my profile pic, guy made Kenyatta and colonialist shit bricks thats why Unyatu assassinated Baimunge.
It is said Marshall Mwariam once led a force of 500 fighters to attack colonialist but unknown to him the bazungu had already been warned he incurred heavy casualties in the attack and barely survived but luckily he jumped into a river hang on a log that was floating and ended up downstream away from the colonialists.
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The Legend of Meru Bombers
In the early days of the Mau Mau war, overwhelmed by the gallant freedom fighters based in the Mt Kenya Forest, the British launched ?Operation Mushroom?.
The British Royal Air Force using Lincoln fighter jets dropped up to six million bombs in Mau Mau hideouts in Mt Kenya forest and surrounding areas. Many of the bombs exploded to great destruction, carnage and loss to the Mau Mau.
Some of these bombs however never exploded and are often found in farmland and in the Mt Kenya Forest to this day.
After sustaining heavy losses, the Meru unit of the Mau Mau came up with a brilliant idea; to use the unexploded bombs they found to counter British operations. The Meru Bombers were born.
Field Marshall Baimungi Marete and his rank created a secretive Elite Unit of 11 elite soldiers to scour the mountain for unspent bombs and repurpose them for use against the British and their collaborators.
The Meru Bombers found, experimented and found ways to ambush unknowing targets and trigger these bombs against British forces and their collaborators.
Between 1953 and 1956, the Meru Bombers were able to ambush and stage attacks on roads British forces and their sympathizers used starting from Embu through Meru & Nyeri to Muranga.
Successful and dreaded in their sting attacks, the British set out on a brutal pursuit of the Bombers. They eluded them often going silent for months only to spring attacks later in places the British never anticipated.
The Bombers became a secretive legendary unit that was never captured and many say are part of the force that survived the war along with the other forces under Field Marshalls Baimungi and Mwariama.
Between 1982 & 1984, attempts were being made to have a united Meru Football Club. Field Marshall Mwariama, the last surviving war Field Marshall, a football lover, got wind of this idea.
Inspired by Gor Mahia FC, named after a legendary Luo Magician and Warrior, the Field Marshall suggested the name Meru Bombers for the football club to immortalize the secretive elite unit whose existence and success was denied, never talked about but dreaded by the British. ?
Meru Bombers Football Club was finally born with Kinoru Stadium as their home. As fate would have it, years after eluding the British and as the last holdout of the Mau Mau, Field Marshal Baimungi and the last of the elite members of the Bombers were captured, detained and finally executed at Kinoru Stadium.
Their name and spirit lives to this day, in the club named after them and Kinoru Stadium, the grounds where they paid the ultimate price for our freedom!
The legend and fighting spirit of our founding fathers, Lives On!
https://merubombers.com/ourstory
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This article by the Times decribes Baimungi as most dreaded of all Mau Mau
Kenya: A Love for the Forest
Friday, Jan. 17, 1964
What does a Mau Mau "freedom fighter" do once freedom has been won?
Kenya's notorious "General" Baimungi, the meanest Mau Mau of them all, had no intention of joining the ranks of the technologically unemployed. Once last month's independence celebrations were over, he and his band of 200 green-uniformed thugs slipped quietly back into the forests on the north slope of Mount Kenya, broke out hidden rifles, and resumed their careers.
Protected by the amnesty Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta had extended to all Mau Maus, Baimungi's men began by lopping off the ears of an African cop. Then they turned to the local Meru tribesmen, carrying off more than 50 men and women to their four forest camps. Baimungi's men administered oaths of allegiance to the new Kenyan flag — and charged their victims a month's wages for the privilege of swearing them. Women were treated to haircuts by barbarous barbers wielding razor-sharp, 18-inch pangas, then were summarily stripped and raped. The men were merely beaten.
To show how much he appreciated Jomo's amnesty, Baimungi invited a government minister to his headquarters for a special show: a man was dragged in from a nearby village and whipped.
Said the visitor from Nairobi: "I told the 'general' that he should not beat people in front of a Minister, but he just retorted that Ministers knew nothing about the rules of the forest."
Last week Jomo announced that the general Mau Mau amnesty would end Jan. 15, and thereafter any persons caught carrying unauthorized arms or wearing quasi-military uniforms would be arrested. As tight-lipped police waited to see if Baimungi and his merry band would emerge from the forests, angry Meru villagers were sharpening their own pangas. They knew their local Robin Hood too well, and they planned a little barbering of their own.
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,875584,00.html
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Plato further to this Baimungi was a rank in Meru warrior/military establishment equivalent of the rank of Lt. Col and above in modern day armies.
Mungi Means headgear made from lion mane or goat or colobus monkey, thus Baimungi means wearer of the headgear or crown
So original names for field Marshall Baimungi were,M'Marete wa M'Ikandi wa Mwereru
More specifically meaning in English" son of Marete of son of Ikandi from village of Mwereru
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Lowest Meru military rank was called Ntangi this were equivalent to modern day privates common soldiers. Ntangi literally means those that are sent to roam or carry out orders.
I will explain in detail about Meru military ranks in another thread
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Plato further to this Baimungi was a rank in Meru warrior/military establishment equivalent of the rank of Lt. Col and above in modern day armies.
Mungi Means headgear made from lion mane or goat or colobus monkey, thus Baimungi means wearer of the headgear or crown
So original names for field Marshall Baimungi were,M'Marete wa M'Ikandi wa Mwereru
More specifically meaning in English" son of Marete of son of Ikandi from village of Mwereru
"
Lowest Meru military rank was called Ntangi this were equivalent to modern day privates common soldiers. Ntangi literally means those that are sent to roam or carry out orders.
I will explain in detail about Meru military ranks in another thread
was baimunge also in charge of Kirinyaga. I learnt he was a hot head and shot at Mwariama several time. once he hit his coat tails as they stared each other in a duel over rank. he was feared for killing other mau mau privates that disobeyed his orders. is this the guy who refused to come out of forest?
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Yes Plato Baimungi Marete was Kimathi's de facto number 2 he didn't see eye to eye with Mwariama. Baimungi was mean and ruthless a cold blooded killer he beheaded anyone that he deemed not operating under his extremist Mau Mau views he rarely used his gun which he reserved for just shooting to disable his victims before closing in and finishing them with his panga :). I tend to think Guys like Baimungi Marete contributed to some extent Mau Mau not having that overwhelming support due to his brutality .
He refused to end the war even when Kenyatta begged him to and remained in the forest I guess he was ambitious wanted to be the revolutionary leader.
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The Day General Baimungi Openly Confronted Jomo Kenyatta
MERU DAILY NEWS
The Day General Baimungi Openly Confronted Jomo Kenyatta
General Baimungi passionately told Kenyatta: "We don't want war, even for a day---unless it is forced on us. We are not bandits or terrorists, we are freedom fighters and we love our country more than life
by Meru Daily News February 6, 2022 - Updated on February 13, 2022
General Baimuinge vs Kenyatta
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“We reject your offer because it amounts to a bribe. You, particularly, should know that we fought and died for the liberation of this land, and not for money and a few acres of land. We therefore refuse to disarm until your government meets our demands. Kenyans cannot be said to be free if they don’t control their land and have succeeded in expelling foreign exploiters from the country, dismantling the colonial military and political machinery, and distributing egalitarian justice to the citizens.”
Looking General Baimungi in the eye, according to Mwariama, Kenyatta angrily asked him, “Njen?r? Baim?inge, i? ti w?yathi wat?mire m?thi? m?tit?, r?u ?r? mokoin? mait?, n?k?? k?ng? m?renda? N? g?th?kia m?renda g?th?kia b?r?ri; t?tik?mw?tik?ria m??th?kie.”
(General Baimungi, did you go to the forest to fight for independence? Now it is in our hands; what else do you want? Your aim is to destroy the country and we will not allow you to do so.)
The guerrilla leaders responded: A luta continua!
After the breakdown of negotiations, Kenyatta vehemently warned the Mau Mau Generals that the government would take military action if they persisted in holding their position.
In response, General Baimungi passionately told Kenyatta:
“We don’t want war, even for a day—unless it is forced on us. We are not bandits or terrorists, we are freedom fighters and we love our country more than life. I don’t know whether you are aware that it is our courage and persistency, our heroism and sacrifice that freed you from the enemy prison and gave birth to national independence. Although we respect you as a national leader and like us, you have been in the frontline of the struggle; we refuse to accept the political and economic program of your government. It is a sellout program. In this regard, we don’t consider ourselves part of that government or in anyway bound by the agreement you made with the British at Lancaster House Conference. M?thee, don’t you see what you are doing? You are compromising the fundamental interests of our people to imperialism.”
Instead of responding, Kenyatta walked out of the room, fuming with anger. Without saying goodbye, the three guerrilla leaders were driven to Meru town on a government vehicle. That night, they joined their comrades-in-arms in the forest. Under this intense situation, the two forces will mobilize their armies; organize their tactics and strategies, to face each other on the battlefield. It will be a bloody confrontation…
In responding to General Baimungi’s uncompromising posture, Kenyatta ordered the former colonial army, a combined force of white and black soldiers, the paramilitary police and the notorious humungati militia led by a British commander to return to the forest to hunt down the KLFA forces. Intensive bombing of the Kirinyaga region was carried out.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was declared in Meru district, countless innocent peasants and workers slaughtered in the name of “law and order”. Generals Baimuingi, Ruku and Chui killed on the battlefield on January 26, 1965 and their bodies paraded in Meru town for several days.
General Mwariama describes the scene of murder:
“I learned about the brutal killing of General Baimungi while at my home in Timau. I rushed to Meru town immediately. I went to where the body of Baimungi had fallen and with seething anger; I examined it. The bullet that killed him went through the right hand and then through the neck.”
“I put my finger in the bullet hole and it came out on the other side of the neck. I started crying; I could not control my emotion. I realized it was barely six months ago I was arrested and imprisoned for six months for my patriotism. Now, fifteen months after independence, here lay my comrade, a Kenyan freedom fighter, brutally murdered by government forces—a government we had played a significant role in creating. Upset and with a feeling of impotence, I left the town with tears running down my cheeks, and I did not sleep that night— I kept asking myself, ‘Are we all going to end up like Baimungi, Chui and many other comrades killed with them? Is our patriotism a crime to be savagely suppressed? Who will write the history of our armed struggle, if they kill all of us?’ I was not able to answer those questions; I left them to history.
(Kinyatti, 2019) History of Resistance in Kenya.
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BY MERU DAILY NEWS FEBRUARY 6, 2022 - UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 13, 2022
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