The aim of this article is to teleport the reader back to a struggle for emancipation in colonial Kenya that, in our view, has been criminally forgotten. Our objective is that by the series end we would have done justice to the remembrance of the shujaas of Chetambe war.
To realize our goal, we will be publishing this series of articles honoring shujaas of Chetambe War in three parts. This is because we want to layer it into digestible parts for the reader. All that we will present will be based on the amount of information we have gathered through both primary and secondary sources. As a result, we will end up with four parts. They are: this introductory piece and a breakdown consisting of three parts namely:
- First, Part 1: The 4 Battles Of Chetambe War: The Battle Of Mukhweya, Lumboka, and Chetambe – Resistance Against The Rule of Nabongo Mumia, The Legend Of Shujaas Wakoli The Bukusu Freedom Fighter and Chetambe Ifile The Great Tachoni Leader Warrior
- Then, Part 2: Chetambe War Explained: Why Despite A Brave Fight, The Bukusu Lost – A look At Wartime Philosophies, Military Strategies, Tactics and Lopsided Clash Of Iron and Gunpowder
- And finally, Part 3: Chetambe War: The Aftermath
Research Conducted For Series
To research the content for this series, we have analyzed many resources and those are noted at the end of this series. Moreover, from the outset of this emotional journey to the last half of the last decade of the 19th century when Mulembe blood soaked the earth for collective and personal freedoms, I want to personally acknowledge that we used many resources to build this article. Further, we couldn’t provide this level of detail without those supporting bodies of work.
Before we forget, to our non Swahili speaking readers ‘shujaa’ is the Swahili word for hero. With that piece of housekeeping out of the way, let’s dive into the heart of the matter. I feel that the ideal starting point is to provide an account of the Chetambe War as regards when and where it took place.
Tracing The Exact Spot Where The Shujaas Of Chetambe Gallantly Fought For Freedom
In our article on the legend behind the Kwa Dina neighborhood of Webuye town we described the modern history of the most important battle ground of this war. In the article, we cheekily termed Chetambe Hills, as the buttocks of Mulembe’s only industrial town. Rising to the West of Webuye -a town that’s just coming alive after an economic slump occasioned by collapse of PanPaper Mills – this range of hills today is a sightseers attraction. A top Chetambe hills, one enjoys sweeping views of Webuye town, Nzoia Sugar complex, and on a clear day, of Bungoma Town.
But for a certain generation, none of whom eat today, Olukoba lwa Chetambe was a fort, a refuge, that never was. Or rather, whose walls fell too soon. Legend has it that the fall of Olukoba lwa Chetambe resulted in the many streams flowing down the slopes of Chetambe hills turning red with blood. Such was the gallant resistance by the shujaas of Chetambe -to the death!
Today, what remains of Chetambe Fort is a trench about 12 feet deep. It covers four acres and is some two kilometers out of Webuye town. Precisely, it’s just off the Webuye-Kitale highway before one reaches Sipala on your way to Lugulu. Sitting on private property, the future of this historic site remains in doubt. This is partly because descendants of the shujaas of Chetambe till the land for sustenance. Indeed, the site is a far cry from the fortress that we will encounter in part 2 of this series when we delve into the strategies at play in this war.
Pinpointing The Time Of The Bukusu Resistance Against British Rule At Chetambe
Some accounts have the Chetambe war happening sometime in 1894. One account broadly places the period sometime after August of 1984. According to this account, Bukusus fleeing from the scene of the first colonialist incursion at Lumboka in modern day Kanduyi constituency, arrived in Tachoni land that August. The account is based on recall of oral literature and has it that the war broke out soon after.
Late August or thereafter coincides with the beginning of the second rainy season in Mulembe. Therefore, this account somewhat tallies with most accounts that the war occurred during the rainy season. (As we shall see in part 2, these conditions heavily disadvantaged the Bukusu.) However, most recollections of the time of the war describe the rain as torrential. Thus this description of the rain, in my opinion, disqualifies the late 1894 date.
The reason for my skepticism of the 1984 date is that over the 125 years that have elapsed since the Chetambe war, we are safe in saying that seasons have remained largely unchanged. Thus, then as is now, heavy rains pelt the land of Mulembe sometime in early March to end of May. This is to admit that I find another account (a paper published in The International Journal of African Historical Studies) placing the time of the Chetambe war as March to May of 1895 as holding more credence.
When Did The Chetambe War End?
As regards to when the shujaas of Chetambe lost the battle, another account (a web article) marks the end of the war as sometime in 1898. My attempt at finding out how long the Bukusu resistance at Chetambe lasted is worthy for several reasons.
In a nutshell, knowing when the war ended may give us a clue to the scale of the Bukusu resistance. This in turn may: First, give us a clue on the casualties involved. Second, hint at whether the shujaas of Chetambe included Bukusus and/or Tachonis, and/or warriors from other Oluhyias; and third, it supplies details on the build of olukoba lwa Chetambe and other forts of this war.
These three issues – casualties, identity of warriors and design of the fort – have proved divisive in remembering Chetambe. This is because various accounts give conflicting details. At times the difference in fact is minute – like on the number of gates at olukoba lwa Chatembe. At other times quite divisive – like the inclusion of Tachoni warriors among the shujaas of Chetambe.
I personally feel that such difference in opinions are partly responsible for this fight for freedom being criminally forgotten. Thus, to account for some of the doubts, figuring out how long the war lasted is critical.
A Case for 1898
From a historical perspective, all the four battles that make up the war of Chetambe may have occurred over a period of months no more than a year apart. Yes, there were intervening periods between the different battles (details of this in part 2 of this series) but the battles themselves were fought over averagely twenty four to forty eight hours.
Nonetheless, in purely military strategic terms, winning a war goes beyond pacifying an enemy. Indeed, the brief of Charles William Hobely, the architect of these punitive excursions against the Bukusu, was to “subdue” the tribe.
Further, if we take economic pursuits as being behind these British punitive expeditions, we end at measurable outcomes of what ‘subduing the Bukusu’ could have meant. To this end, to mind comes the completion date of the railway line. Considering that the railway ended at Kisumu in 1901, the year 1898 offers a suitable endpoint of the Chetambe war.
Besides guesstimates based on construction timelines of the Kenya-Uganda railway, other corollary evidence points to a prolonged wartime period. Consider that the year given as the end of Hobley’s punitive expeditions against African indigenous tribes is 1908. Or that Hobley married a certain Alice Mary Turner in 1905 – you don’t get married in the middle of a war you are waging yourself; or do you?
Take also for instance that the Chetambe war Mabangalike any other, resulted in massive displacement of persons. The internally displaced Bukusu en route to Chetambe fort while fleeing Lumboka, passed through a number of villages. One account reports a route through Bokoli then to Mabanga, Lugulu, Sipala and finally to Olukoba lwa Chetambe. Another has Mateka, Siritanyi, Bungoma, Mwibale and Kuywa as the route.
Scorched-earth
In all these places, villages were abandoned. Further, the enemy would burn them down on reaching them. After and during the Chetambe battle, other Bukusus fled as far as Banyala land in Kakamega. It is understood that there might be dozens of other routes used to flee. This was because those fleeing relayed the atrocities of the British scorched-earth campaign to the villages they passed by.
Given the nature of atrocities by the British, it might have taken several years for hostilities to subside. Possibly many more for normalcy to return. For details on the aftermath of Chetambe war, Part 3 of this series will delve deeper. Not only will we paint a picture of the grim aftereffects of the Chetambe war; we will also talk of ways how some of the aftershocks of the senseless bloodletting reverberate in lives today. But first, Part 1.
