Makhan Singh (1913-1973)
Makhan Singh, born in Punjab, India, migrated to Nairobi, Kenya, at 14, where he became a pioneer of trade unionism. Working at his father’s printing press after school, he developed a passion for workers’ rights, later traveling to India in 1939 to study trade unionism and engaging in anti-colonial activism. Upon his return to Kenya in 1947, his relentless push for independence led him to coin the slogan “Uhuru Sasa” (Freedom Now), which alarmed colonial authorities. As a result, he was detained for eleven years without trial. A staunch advocate for racial unity, Singh played a key role in founding the East African Trade Union Congress and urged Indians and Africans to unite in their struggle against British rule. He passed away in 1973 due to cardiac arrest.
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Life and Demise
Makhan Singh, born in Gharjakh village, Punjab province in India. Aged 14, he migrated with his family to join his father in Nairobi-Kenya, which by then was the administrative capital of the British East Africa Protectorate.
His father ran a printing press(Having left the railways) where Singh helped after his school-leaving examinations. It's during this time that he developed an interest in trade unionism.
Singh left for India again in December 1939 in the name of " Studying working-class conditions and functioning of trade unionism in Bombay and Ahmedabad." while there, he engaged himself in anti-colonial activities i.e. addressing mass meetings of strikers and attending meetings as an African delegate. He was arrested again on the orders of the colonial government and he was set scot-free in January 1945. He again left for Kenya in August 1947.
In1950, out of Singh’s relentless activism, he surprised many by crafting the slogan, “Uhuru Sasa"(Freedom now) prompting colonialists to emancipate Kenyans. He was devoted to opposing injustice in both the land of his birth and his adopted home.
His utterance ensued with other selfless acts, provoked the Kenya colony Governor, Sir Philip Mitchell who ordered that he be detained for an indefinite period. He was imprisoned in the late 1950s; in a desert prison camp in Lokitaung, near Lodwar. On 20th October 1961, he was released after eleven years of being confined without any charge or trial.
Unfortunately, Makhan Singh died of cardiac arrest at Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi in May 1973.
ACHIEVEMENTS
In 1935, Makhan Singh and Fred Kubai joined hands and formed and established the foundations of the East African Trade Union Congress, where he served as the general secretary.
He was also elected as the secretary of the Indian Trade Union, the same association which he convinced his fellow unionists to change its name to the Labour Trade Union of Kenya and open membership to all.
Singh managed to transcend colour, in a British-ruled Kenya, where Indians primarily spoke for themselves while Africans narrowly expressed their interests. He made a common cause with the Kenyan population to take on the British.
He encouraged Indians to work in concert with Africans and suggested that setting up of common schools and Kenya’s Punjabi and Gujaratis learning “the language of the people -Swahili.”
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