Bildad Kaggia

Bildad Mwaganu Kaggia was born in 1921 in Murang'a. Serving with the British Army in Egypt and the Middle East during World War II, his exposure to global anti-imperialism transformed him into a radical nationalist.

Returning to Kenya, Kaggia took over the trade unions in Nairobi and became a primary strategist of the central committee administering the Mau Mau freedom oath. Arrested in October 1952 as one of the 'Kapenguria Six', he spent eight years in brutal prison detention. Following independence, he was appointed Assistant Minister for Education, but resigned when Kenyatta refused to distribute former white settler farms to landless Mau Mau freedom fighters, living his remaining days in modest poverty.