Kenya Land and Freedom Army

The Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) was a guerrilla army, formed mainly by the people of central and eastern Kenya, which resisted British rule from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.^[1] The army was led by Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi.

Structure

An army platoon consisted of 500 up to 2,000 soldiers. In the latter case a General was assisted by a Colonel and a Brigadier.^[1] Generals included Chui, Kassam Njogu, China, Stanley Mathenge and Bamuingi. The capture of rebel leader Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 fatally crippled the army, and ultimately ended the war. However, the army objective was achieved when Kenya attained self-government. General Bamuingi (People’s General) led a team that was killed on the battlefield by the Kenyatta government. After independence in 1965 they had returned to the forest to fight after independence. They claimed that independence fundamentally benefited the ‘barren’ of the land (collaborators and moderates). Their bodies were paraded in Meru Township for three days as the last chiefs of the "Mau-Mau terrorists".^[1]

References