Ole Kashorda: PCEA elder who shunned graft turns 100

Last Saturday, I was invited to a unique ceremony in lower Matasia, Ngong, to celebrate the centennial of a man I have known for many years.

Standing tall at 6ft 3in, with his trademark broad smile of spotless white teeth, James Njuguna ole Kashorda showed no sign of a stoop at the age of 100.

He walked confidently, brandishing an immaculate cane as he made his way to one of the four marquees erected in his compound for the occasion.

The third born in a family of seven, Kashorda estimates that he was born in 1919 because, according to his mother, he was born in Mutuini soon after the end of World War I.

He also claims his friend John Mark Leteipan was about four years older than him and it is on record that Leteipan was born in 1915.

His father Ekang’ole Kooi, a Maasai from Matapato, near Namanga, had been kidnapped as a young boy by the Kikuyu at the turn of the 19th Century and assimilated into Kikuyu culture at Mutuini.

Although the usual spoils of skirmishes between the Maasai and Kikuyu were livestock and girls, boys would sometimes be kidnapped and later become of great strategic importance as they could speak both languages.

When he reached marriageable age, his father was allowed to marry a Kikuyu girl, Wanjiru, who was the younger sister of Reverend Musa Gitau.

Kashorda spent his youth helping his father with his large herd of cows and goats around Oloolua, current day Langata and Kerarapon. His father was not interested in educating children considering that he had sufficient wealth in livestock.

Although Kashorda enjoyed looking after cows, something inside him told him he needed to go to school. In 1936, he approached his uncle, Rev Musa Gitau, who agreed to help him start school at Kerarapon, but he had to be baptised. After he was baptised and started school, Kashorda experienced a deep love for Christian ministry.

After leaving Kerarapon in 1939, he joined Mambere in Thogoto for Standard Five. Soon thereafter his father married a second wife and returned to his roots in Matapato together with his livestock, leaving Kashorda and his mother in Oloolua. Lack of school fees forced him to leave Mambere at the end of 1940.

Nevertheless, he was determined to further his education and in 1941 he visited Musa Gitau in Githiga where he was the Parish minister.

His uncle, however, was unable to help with school fees, suggesting instead that Kashorda join the Kings African Rifles.

He proceeded for the interview in 1942 near King George Hospital (now Kenyatta National Hospital) and passed.

However, Kashorda felt that since he could die in the war if he joined the army, he needed to find his father and his mother, who had followed the family to Matapato, to bid them farewell.

Clerical job

On reaching Kajiado in December 1942, Kashorda found his friend Muhia wa Njire who was working as a clerk for Liebig’s Canning Factory (later Kenya Meat Commission) at Athi River. His friend introduced him to the European manager of Liebig’s who offered him a clerical job, but he had to undergo training at the company’s headquarters in Arusha.

On his way to Namanga, he was able to locate his parents at Matapato and spent a month with them.

After completing his training in Arusha, Kashorda returned to Athi River in April 1943 where he took up the clerical job. It was while at Liebig’s that he made the acquaintance of Dr Igor Mann who was a meat inspector at the plant.

To his surprise, Kashorda was paid four months salary amounting to Sh160. He used the money to pay debts and help his family.

During his stay at Liebig’s he helped the Maasai in the hides and skins business to supplement their income.

Feeling confident and having built up sufficient savings, Kashorda resigned from Liebig’s in 1946 and returned to Thogoto where he informed Musa Gitau that he was ready to get a wife.

Apparently, there were three maidens on offer and he chose Tabitha, the daughter of Barnabas Nyoike, a man who was given to a violent disposition. Fortunately, Kashorda’s parents were well known to Barnabas and he readily agreed to give away his daughter.

They were married in 1948 at the Church of the Torch Kikuyu in a ceremony attended by leading politicians such as Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi, Eliud Mathu, John Keen and William ole Ntimama.

His friend Roshan gave him 50 acres of land at lower Matasia to settle his family.

In 1950, Kashorda met his old friend Dr Mann who offered him training in hides and skins at the Veterinary Training School in Ngong.

Local Native Tribunal

At about the same time he was appointed to the Local Native Tribunal, but he soon resigned when he discovered the elders were corrupt.

He accepted Christ in 1953 and joined the East African Revival Movement where he met John Gatu. In 1954, he was posted to Kajiado as a hides and skins inspector.

The job dovetailed with his evangelical ministry and he travelled widely in Kajiado District preaching the gospel. Later he and Reverend Gatu were inseparable, evangelising in Central Kenya and covertly helping the Mau Mau movement.

In 1964, Kashorda was appointed revenue clerk with Kajiado County Council based in Ngong where he remained for the next 20 years, resisting attempts to compromise him, including a delegation that was dispatched to State House to try and dispossess people who had purchased land under verbal agreements from the Maasai.

Kashorda has been an elder of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) since 1965. He has neither smoked cigarettes nor consumed alcohol. He has given so much to this country saying no to corruption when other people were turning a blind eye.