As we get ready to celebrate 50 years of independence, a lot has been said about many people who have made a difference for the mother country Kenya. One of the Kenyan Daily newspapers hinted on the list of those great  people, to be feted during Kenya@50. However, that list was missing many true heroes, including those unsung whose photos tell their stories.
Former journalist with Society magazine Laban G. Gitau gives us a scoop of what happened during the Moi days. He also talks about some of the unsung heroes. These are heroes who should be on that list. Here below is the scoop, capturing the photo-worthy unsung heroes of Kenya’s journey.
This is also a heroes corner celebrating the Society magazine writers and editors. They bravely fought against dictatorship and corruption. They also fought against the muzzling of the media and impunity in the administration. For this, the Moi regime detained them at the notorious Shimo la Tewa.
We shared the dinghy room that had previously incarcerated Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia. It was also where Ochuka and the group of the 1982 coup had been holed up. Many never came out alive. Unless they have been erased, the walls of the torture chambers where we were held were covered with their graphic depiction of the coup plan. There were also other writings that could have been their last words.
Just to let Kenyans know, especially today’s corrupt and Hollywood style media, that it has virtually lost all vestiges of moral values and professional integrity. The level playing field took lives. The Society magazine editors and writers, Pius and Lois Nyamora, Mwenda Njoka, Laban Gitau, Mukalo wa Kwayera were lucky to get out quickly and alive. This was courtesy of then US Ambassador Smith Hempstone and other foreign dignitaries, a vibrant civil society, and God who plucked us out of a very inhuman machinery. Just saying.
Photo: The unsung heroes of Kenya@50
