General Kiambati wa Njora, the last surviving member of the twelve Mau Mau generals, has died at 106, his family confirmed.
Njora passed away peacefully at his home in Ngorika, Ol Kalou, Nyandarua County, on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, of old age.
The general’s passing marks the final curtain on a chapter of fierce resistance that helped tear down British colonial rule in the 1950s.
Forests once thick with whispers of rebellion are now silent. The generation that stood naked in the storm of bullets, panga in hand, is gone.
“He lived a full life and remained proud of the struggle until his final days,” his son Maina Kiambati said, recalling the serene final weekend his father spent with family before his death.
A forest war that shaped a nation
The Mau Mau uprising was more than a rebellion. It was a guerrilla war etched in sweat, blood, and the roar of rifles in the Aberdares and Mt Kenya forests.
Fighters etched their names into these hills, relying on their wits and determination – a visceral struggle for land, dignity, and the right to self-governance. Colonial soldiers referred to it as an insurrection; for Kenyans at that time, it was a matter of survival.
Kiambati wa Njora was among the few leaders who embraced the forest as a fortress. From 1952 until independence in 1963, he stood beside renowned commanders such as Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi, crafting tactics that danced around British patrols and outran their informers.
These were years marked by brutal clashes: ambushes in mist-veiled clearings, colonial planes thundering overhead, and rebel warriors emerging from shadows with eyes like flint.
For the fighters, defeat was not an option; it was a whisper they refused to hear.
One of the last twelve Mau Mau veterans, General Kiambati, has died aged 106.https://t.co/lg9E8yCImZ
— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) February 4, 2026
An end of an era
With Kiambati’s death, Kenya loses a living bridge to its most bitter fight for freedom.
There are no more veterans who wore the rank of General in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army.
Their stories once carried wisdom and warning. Now they belong fully to archives and memory.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua led national tributes, evoking the sacrifices of thousands who stood with bare hands and grit as bombs and bullets fell like hail.
Gachagua named other icons: Dedan Kimathi, General China Waruhiu, General Mwariama, and others whose courage lit the fuse of freedom.
READ ALSO: Argwings-Kodhek: 7 quick facts about the Mau Mau lawyer
Gachagua called on Kenyans not to forget the fierce struggle that gave birth to the nation:
“May the tree of freedom they fought for never dry,” he said, urging a new generation to honour hard-won liberty.
Legacy and unfinished recognition
In the years that followed, Kiambati became an advocate for his fellow comrades. Numerous Mau Mau veterans found themselves living in poverty, their sacrifices insufficiently acknowledged by the very state they fought to liberate.
He challenged a nation to remember not just independence, but its cost.
PAY ATTENTION: Reach us at info@gotta.news.
