Bildad Kaggia

He established himself as a militant, fiery nationalist who wanted to serve the poor and landless people.

Unfortunately, his father was not able to raise the school fee and Kaggia had to take up a clerical job at the District Commissioners' Office at Murang’a.

Despite hating war, Kaggia decided to join the army to seize the opportunity to travel to south-west Asia.

In his opinion the foreign religions in Kenya were a stepping stone to colonialism and his people had to be liberated from this as well.

Subsequently, many times Kaggia and his followers were arrested and imprisoned for holding illegal meetings.

However, at national level KAU was barely functioning[7] and Kaggia shifted his interest to the trade unions.

[9] Kaggia started vernacular newspapers like Inoora ria Gikuyu and later Afrika Mpya to report KAU activities.

These and other vernacular newspapers were instrumental in spreading the message of the militant leaders who advocated for independence.

This league was set up to oppose the proposed Federation with Central Africa, which would strengthen the white settlers' political control of these territories.

Kaggia also served as a minister in the Kenyatta cabinet; his denunciations of corruption marked him out as a member of KANU's radical tendency.

He joined Odinga's KPU, but eventually retired from active politics in 1974, after failing to recapture his seat.

Bildad Kaggia in Nairobi in 1949
Bildad Kaggia in Nairobi in 1964