Elijah Masinde (c.1911–1987) was a
Bukusu
The Bukusu people ( Bukusu: ''Babukusu'') are one of the 17 Kenyan tribes of the Luhya Bantu people of East Africa residing mainly in the counties of Bungoma and Trans Nzoia. They are the largest tribe of the Luhya nation, with 1,188,963 id ...
activist.
Early life
Born around 1910 – 1912 in
Kimilili,
Bungoma District
Bungoma District was a district in the former Western Province of Kenya. Its capital town was Bungoma. It had an area of 2,069 km2.
In 1956, Elgon Nyanza District was split from North Nyanza District. The new district was headquartered at Bu ...
, was initiated into the Machego age-set. At the time, the Kenya-Uganda railway was passing through Ababukusu land. He began to practice football at a young age, eventually starting out as a
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
and captaining a football team from Kimilili. He also played for the
Kenyan national team in the
Gossage Cup
Gossage is a family name of soapmakers and alkali manufacturers. Their company eventually became part of the Unilever group. During World War II, all soap brands were abolished by British government decree in 1942, in favour of a generic soap. Whe ...
against
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
in 1930.
Career
By the early 1940s, he had risen to the rank of a junior
elder within his community in Kimilili area, and become increasingly anti-colonial. In 1944, he led a number of localised defiance campaigns against the colonial authorities, and was imprisoned many times as a result. At one time he was put in Mathare Mental Hospital, and on another occasion he was detained in Lamu.
Detention, old age, and death
Upon Kenya's independence, Masinde was detained by the government of
Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He played a significant role in the ...
for almost 15 years. He was accused of fomenting religious hatred. He was released by the government of
Daniel arap Moi
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the thi ...
in 1978, however, Moi also arrested him following his clashes with traffic policemen in Webuye and Kitale. Elija Masinde remained defiant and continually questioned post independence Kenya's government, especially on the issue of land distribution and citizen rights. He died in 1987, considered a neglected freedom fighter.
Before his death, Masinde said that one of his relatives had bewitched him. He also described to his elder son where he wanted to be buried: he wanted a huge sycamore tree uprooted to make way for his grave. The family decided to bury him elsewhere, though, but the spot they chose for his grave turned out to be someone else's hidden grave. They took this to be an omen and proceeded to bury him in the spot where the sycamore tree had been.
He left a widow, Sarah Nanyama Masinde. She was still alive in November 2007 and was then reportedly 105 years old.
[Daily Nation, 12 November 2007]
Masinde family supports Raila
/ref>
See also
* Dini Ya Msambwa
References
*Makila, F. E. (1978) ''An Outline History of Babukusu of Western Kenya.'' Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Literature Bureau.
*Alembi, Ezekiel. (2000) Elijah Masinde: Rebel with a cause''. Nairobi, Kenya: Sasa Sema Publications Ltd.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masinde, Elijah
Kenyan rebels
Kenyan men's footballers
Men's association football players not categorized by position
1910s births
1987 deaths