WERE THE WESTERN COLONIALISTS, SETTLERS AND MISSIONARIES BIRDS OF FEATHERS FLOCKING TOGETHER? THE KENYAN PREINDEPENDENCE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Kikuyu apophthegm, Gūtirī Mūthūngū na Mūbīa (a white-man and a missionary are indistinct) encapsulates the general perception and conviction about the Colonialists and the Missionaries. The Saturday, 15th November, 1884 would become the watershed moment for the African continent. The seven colonial powers were in attendance for the Berlin Conference where Africa was initially segmented into 54 States. The conclusion of the Conference inaugurated the occupation of the African territory which turned out to be the greatest territorial scramble of the epoch. The explorers, merchants, settlers, colonialists and missionaries migrated and emigrated like swarms of bees into various destinations within the continent. Unbeknownst to the Conference, the indigenous people in Kenya, akin to other territories within the continent, had avowed ownership of their motherland. Only in the fool’s paradise could variance remain inevitable! The Natives had a largely non hostile exposure to the Arab merchants who traversed from the coastal belt to the hinterland in search for commercial raw materials. The arrival and settlement of the “Whiteman” was quite consequential. The Colonialists flew the British flag and flaunted the rifle, the Missionaries had the Bible and arrayed the Cross coupled with give aways, the farmers had the fordson tractor and dwarfed labour wages. All of them insatiably needed the “Black man”. The Kikuyu ethnic community’s experience with the “invaders” was largely unpleasant. A bloody encounter would ensue shortly after the invasion. In the Mau Mau war, the Missionaries appeared to be fence sitting while Settlers were beating the drums of war, and as a ripple effect, the Kikuyu’s confidence with Missionaries and Settlers was fast eroding. As the antagonism metamorphosed into a guerrilla war, the blanket mistrust over all the intruders became more conspicuous. The Colonialists and Settlers’ allegiance was to the flag. However, the Missionaries were viewed as part and parcel of colonial subjugation and on espionage colonial mission. At this juncture, all the “Whitemen” appeared to have the same colour, character, chore and chase. The flag, the Bible and the fordson tractor were perceived as camouflaging implements hence the indistinctiveness. This academic corpus sets to firstly demonstrate the antecedent factors that fuelled the consequent conviction and confusion of indistinctiveness between Settlers/Planters, Colonialists and Missionaries. It also assesses narratives for and against the apophthegm.

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