It was well known Luos, Luhyas, Merus and Kambas were cooks & labour units - they were not even issued riffles and were butt of jokes
Kamatusa were recruited as fighters.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1100&context=clhist_facpubwere not soldiers in the real sense of the word because they were not allowed
to bear arms. Such men had already been told by veterans from previous
military expeditions in East Africa that they would be the butt of jokes and
insults from civilians and fellow soldiers if they did not have rifles. Explaining
why he was reluctant to join the military, for example, Maura Oyiro said that
it was because be had heard that African veterans who served in labor units
during ?orld War I were not issued with rifles. According to Oyiro, such
soldiers were not considered in the village as "real soldiers" doing "real and
serious military work" because they were not allowed to serve with rifles and
participate in actual fighting.40 As a result of such sentiments, members of the
Nyanza Manpower Subcommittee came to realize that the lack ofritles was a
very serous concern among Africans, and could easily derail the proposed
project. Fazan remarked that, "the great complaint among the men, who arc
otherwise keen and proud of themselves ... is that their women will mock them
if they are not armed.41