Bildad Kaggia (2025-2005)
Bildad Kaggia (1921–2005) was a prominent Kenyan nationalist, Mau Mau leader, and politician known for his fierce advocacy for independence and social justice. After serving in the British Army during WWII, he returned to Kenya deeply opposed to colonialism and helped form an African-led religious and political movement. He served as an MP for Kandara and held a ministerial post in Kenyatta’s cabinet before retiring from politics in 1974. Kaggia was also instrumental in opposing apartheid laws in Nairobi, founding trade unions and vernacular newspapers, and leading the Anti-Federation League, which prevented Kenya’s inclusion in the Central African Federation. His legacy is preserved through the Bildad M. Kaggia Foundation, led by his daughter, Njoki Kaggia.
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Life and Demise
Bildad Kaggia was a Kenyan nationalist, activist, politician, and member of the Mau Mau central committee. He was born in 1921 in Dagoretti (now part of Nairobi County). His father had migrated from Murang'a District (now in Murang'a county), a place he returned to two years later. Kaggia enrolled at Santamor Estate and later transferred to the Church Missionary Society School at Kahuhia. His stunning performance secured him a chance at the prestigious Alliance High School but his father’s inability to raise the school fees forced him to drop out and take up a clerical job at the District Commissioner's Office in Murang’a until he was recruited into the British Army in 1940 from where he was deployed to the Middle East. When Britain lost the war, the War Office in London decided to create a unit in Britain to rehabilitate captured African soldiers. Kaggia applied and got the post of company quarter sergeant, the first African to get this post. While in the army, he engaged in many correspondence courses such as journalism, trade unionism, and political science.
His experience in the army exposed him to the hot embers of racial discrimination and colonialism. Therefore, when he returned to Kenya in 1946, he denounced the church. He was determined to create a purely African movement, divorced from European denominations and independent of European churches’ doctrine. He relented naming the movement, but people began calling it Aundu a Kaggia (Kaggia’s People) hence Kaggia’s Religion.
When Kenyatta was elected chairman of KAU in 1947 Kaggia joined KAU, but to his disappointment he left since it was not as militant as he thought. In the 1963 elections, he won the Kandara Constituency parliamentary seat on a KANU ticket. Later on, he served as a minister in Kenyatta's cabinet. He retired from active politics in 1974.
Kaggia married Wambui, with whom they had three children; two sons and a daughter. Wambui passed away in 2000. Kaggia suffered a stroke and passed away on 7th March 2005 aged 82.
In his remembrance, the Bildad M. Kaggia foundation was established with a mission to be a center for exhibition, education, and publication to honor and promote the legacy of Bildad M. Kaggia and other freedom fighters. Currently, the foundation is under the stewardship of Njoki Kaggia, who also serves as the chairlady.
Achievements
Kaggia was the president of the Anti-Federation League (AFL). The league was set up to oppose the proposed Federation with Central Africa, which would strengthen the European settlers’ political control of these territories. The AFL succeeded in its objective since Kenya did not join the federation when the Central African Federation of three British colonies of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and Nyasaland (Malawi) was founded in 1953.
As a member of the African Advisory Council, Kaggia campaigned actively and incessantly against the Nairobi Municipal Council’s apartheid by-laws, which had created separate European, Asian and African areas in Nairobi. This remains his greatest accomplishment since these by-laws were revoked by the Municipal Council.
He founded the clerks and commercial workers union becoming its chairman in 1948. This union became a member of the general union, the Labor Trade Union of East Africa.
As a nationalist who advocated for independence, Kaggia started vernacular newspapers like Inooria ria Gikuyu, and later Afrika Mpya to report the activities of KAU (Kenya African Union).
Having done political science while in the military made him a leading member of the KAU Study Circle which assisted its members with drafting memoranda, resolutions, and discussion papers.
References
- Advert Africa (18th November 2020): African History:-Bildad Kaggia (Kenya).
- Norbert C. Brockman: Dictionary of African Christian Biography:-Bildad, Kaggia.
- Shola Adenekan: The Guardian:-Bildad Kaggia-Key Figure in Kenya's Independence Struggle.
- The East African: (Friday, November 14, 2014) "Kaggia":-Play Immortalizes Forgotten Hero
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildad_Kaggia
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