Honia-Heal Afrika Initiative (HAI)

Written by Gĩtaũ wa Kũng’ũ.

Welcome to Kĩgumo. Kĩgumo is not just the name of one of the constituencies of Kenya, or the name of one of the 35 Wards of Mũrang’a county. It’s also the land of the great Mũgumo tree. This article will specifically elucidate on the geopolitical significance of Kĩgumo in Kenya’s history and especially, the relationship between the constituency and Kenya’s founding president.

Kĩgumo is amongst the first names that appear in the first page of the history of independent Kenya. Kĩgumo. The name is an acme derivative of the name Mũgumo.

Mũgumo is the Gĩkũyũ name for the great (Ficus natalensis /Ficus thonningii). That means a Kĩgumo is a very large Mũgumo tree. The Mũgumo is an epiphytic tree, indigenous in Africa. It’s widely spread from the East to West and South Africa. In most communities in Africa, it is regarded as a sacred tree.
In ‘Revisiting the roots of Gĩkũyũ
culture through the sacred Mũgumo tree’, Karangi, Matthew M. (2008) writes in the Journal of African Cultural Studies, a more comprehensive article on the role of Mũgumo tree in the Aagĩkũyũ cosmology and worship. The Agĩkũyũ of Kenya venerate the tree as ‘The tree of God.’ Kĩgumo therefore can be translated to the ‘land of the greatest tree of God.’
Well in the scope of Kenyan political history, Kĩgumo Sub County cannot be obliterated.
It was Paramount Chief Karanja wa Njiiri who convinced his son Kariũki wa Njiiri to step down as member of parliament, Kĩgumo Constituency for the late Mzee Jomo Kĩnyaata, after his release from prison.
This was to pave the way for him to be the first president of the independent Kenya. Why is it that nobody else but the founder of Njiiris High School stepped down for Kĩnyaata? Here’s the connection.
Unbeknownst to not only the books of history but also to probably many of the extended Kĩnyaata family progenies, their ancestral roots are in Kĩgumo Constituency, Muthithi Ward in a village called Ngabũri.
It was in Ngabũri where the grandfather of Johnstone Kamau Ngengi, alias Jomo Kĩnyaata was born. Kĩnyaata’s father was called Mũigai wa Kũng’ũ, son of Kũng’ũ wa Magana of the Aambũi clan.
It has not been recorded how Jomo Kĩnyaata’s family moved to Kĩambu, Gatũndũ.
However, most of my correspondents during the research into the matter agreed that Kĩnyaata’s grandfather migrated to Kĩambu in search of greener pastures.
That is the missing link why the origins of Kĩnyaata have remained yet another mystery surrounding the first president of Kenya, a man defined by mystery. A man of myriad mysteries.
Like his origins, his name is a mystery.
Born John Peter Kamau Mũigai, he changed his name to Johnstone Kamau wa Ngengi. After the death of his father, the lad Kamau was brought up by his father’s brother, Ngengi wa Kũng’ũ. He was thus baptised Johnstone and took his uncle’s name Ngengi. Gĩkũyũ traditions however, dictate that a child is named after their biological parent, even when brought up by their parent’s sibling.
Well, the young Johnstone Kamau Ngengi later took the name ‘Jomo Kĩnyaata.’ ‘Jomo’ is a Maasai name meaning ‘burning spear’ while ‘Kĩnyaata’ is the name for the leather belt that was worn around the waist.
It must also be seemingly weird mine not using the common ‘Kenyatta’ spelling. The name is a misspelling for ‘Kĩnyaata.’ The ‘Kenyatta’ misspelling is definitely from the English mispronunciation of the indigenous name. Most probably, the late Mzee allowed the obvious mispronunciation to also have history associate him with the name of the country ‘Kenya’, whose name is also a European mispronunciation of the name ‘Kĩrĩnyaga’.
Indeed, it’s no coincidence that Kariuki wa Njiiri ceded his seat to pave way for Jomo Kĩnyaata to become Kĩgumo’s first MP and so become the first president of independent Kenya. But how did the chief step down for Kĩnyaata, whilst everybody else could not give up his position in the Legco?
It happened that Jomo Kĩnyaata’s foster father Ngengi wa Kũng’ũ was a childhood friend to Kariuki wa Njiiri’s father Chief Njiiri wa Karanja.
It was this friendship strongly founded on the traditional Agĩkũyũ codes of the ‘riika’- age set system, that made the chief’s father to convince his son to step down for his buddy’s son.
Thus the unrecorded history of the roots of the Kenyatta family, in the soil of Kĩgumo constituency-the land of the greatest Mũgumo tree. The people must never forget.