Our 1959 drive to Meru from Kibichoi

After serving as a Community Development Officer during the Emergency, my father was posted to Meru in December 1958, as a District Assistant for Land Consolidation. At the time, John Cumber was the District Commissioner for Meru while Frank Lloyd was the Provincial Commissioner for Central Province, whose office was in Nyeri.

To keep pace with his now relatively elevated status, my father traded in his antiquated Vauxhall saloon for a spanking new Morris Minor 1000 panel van. In his book “Daunting Journey, he explains that he bought the van because he could carry a few commodities such as beans, potatoes, and cowpeas from Meru to sell in Kibichoi, where his family was living, and that way cover the cost of petrol for the trip.

When it transpired that his stay in Meru would be extended, he made the decision to move his family there in 1959. Although I was barely four at the time, I remember that trip to Meru vividly.

Making an early start from Kibichoi, the only noticeable luggage was a baby cot for my sister Caroline who was then just over a year old. Since my father was living in a government house, which was furnished, there was no need to carry anything much more than personal effects for the journey.

Stopping in Nyeri for lunch, the journey was uneventful on well-maintained roads. But, after passing Nanyuki town, there was heavy rain, and the road was treacherous. I remember the Morris Minor with its skinny tyres, twisting and turning on the muddy road leading up to Meru. After a short distance, my father stopped the car and laboriously fitted chains (must-have equipment in the day) to the rear wheels which improved traction considerably.

The option of taking the shorter route through Embu was a nightmare with 95 sharp corners, multiple river crossings, dodgy bridges, and overall, not well maintained. Even Land Rovers found it quite challenging.

Arriving in Meru in the early evening, exhausted and hungry we were happy to find that the cook, James, had prepared a hot bath and a sumptuous meal for dinner for all. My father lived in the house that had previously been occupied by a British District Officer. During a visit to Meru last year, I was able to see this house, which is now in private hands, from my hotel room.

My father’s official car was an old Land Rover Series I, registration number OHMS 6091. Land Rovers were the favourite mode of transport for police and administration officials because they could negotiate the poorest roads in the most remote corners of the country.

Land adjudication and consolidation was a big challenge in Meru, having been carried out previously in Kiambu, Nyeri and other places that were hotbeds of Mau Mau activities, where it was not popular. The general populace suspected that the scheme was just another ruse by which the Europeans hoped to get more African land.

This perception was greatly fuelled by the fact that the scheme was carried out while many people were in detention and in their absence, other people, mostly relatives, laid claim to their land.

The misconception had a historical aspect to it too. Long before land consolidation, in the late 1930s, there had been a major disagreement between the Mbeere and the Kikuyu of Ndia over the jurisdiction of vast grazing lands in Mwea that cut across the two communities’ territories.

The Mbeere lived on one side of the Rupingazi River but both communities could graze freely in Mwea where there was good pasture. The two communities had always been friendly and had helped each other in times of war and peace.

During hearings under the Carter Land Commission in 1933, suspicion was created between the two communities with each accusing the other of taking their land. The colonial authorities deliberately laid emphasis on such altercations to divide various communities to weaken their resistance.

Prior to 1958, Meru elders had been attempting to carry out land consolidation by marking boundaries with the naked eye with chaotic results leading to arguments. With time, surveyors with professional equipment were engaged which resulted in a more transparent outcome, and the community began to embrace the exercise.

As an example of the benefits of consolidation, at the time all milk in Meru town was supplied and packed by a European farmer in Timau. If the Meru people agreed to consolidate their small parcels, they could keep grade cattle and feed them well. By so doing, they could supply Meru town and the European farmer would no longer control the market.

My father left Meru in December 1960, and he regarded his tour of duty in Meru to be one of the more successful ones.