During World War I, between 1914 and 1918, most Africans were recruited into service by the British to fight in the war. This monument (and two other similar ones in Mombasa at Mwembe Tayari and in Dar es Salaam the capital city of Tanzania), were erected in honor of the Kings African Rifles and Carrier Corps who served in World War I.
Inscribed on the monument standing on Kenyatta Avenue on the right hand side, is an insignia with the words “Myrander SC, 1924”, indicating the pseudonym of the designer, British sculptor, James Alexander Stevenson and the year it was made and "This is to the memory of the native African troops who fought; to the carriers who were the hands and feet of the army and to all other men who served and died for their king and country in Eastern Africa in the Great War, 1914-1918. If you fight for your country, even if you die, your sons will remember your name.”
The three African men represent a porter, an askari (a fighting man) and a gun carrier, but none of them is identified by name or rank (for their sons to remember) perhaps because it would have elevated them to the heights of heroes, which was not the intention.
THIS WAS JUST A FUTILE GESTURE TO EASE THE GUILT OF COLONIAL MASTERS AND PACIFY THE AFRICAN MEN AND WOMEN WHO FAUGHT IN THEIR WAR!!
THEN AND NOW
We are stuck in our own past from the colonial masters, to our African masters who inadvertently carry on the ''colony mentality'' and an oppressive form of governance. From the British to the Chinese oppressor, the modern day- Mau Mua(Kenyan citizen - Anaye jivunia) life is still worth 5 shillings in Nairobi and hanging by the neck at the gallows of the city.
