Kubu Kubu

Kubu Kubu (or Kubukubu), born Njagi wa Ikutha, was an Embu Mau Mau leader and general. His nom de guerre, Kubu Kubu, means "heavy thud" in Kîembu, referencing the thud his feet made due to his heavy build.

He was the de facto Mau Mau military leader in the Embu country, and an important leader nationally, alongside Dedan Kimathi, Musa Mwariama, and Waruhiu Itote.

Kubu Kubu was revered among the Embu for defending their territory from British rule, leading the community for more than ten years, and repulsing colonial settlers from the southern Kenyan highlands.

Early life
Njagi wa Ikutha was born sometime in the late 1920s in a heavily forested area in Mukuuri, close to the current site of the Kubu Kubu Memorial Boarding Primary School, Embu County. Like many families from the colonial-era Mukuuri Native Reserve, Njagi's family later settled in the Kianjokoma area after independence.

Legacy
In 1987, former Embu North Constituency (later split into Runyenjes and Manyatta) legislator Stanley Nyagah built a modern boarding primary school in Kubu Kubu's memory, where his body was burned in 1955.

A street and a shopping centre in Embu Town has also been named after him. A road in Nyeri Town has also been named after Kubu Kubu. The main street in Runyenjes Town is also named after him, as well as the Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge, a luxury camp in the heart of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Itote widely mentions Kubu Kubu in his 1967 autobiography, "Mau Mau" General (East African Publishing House).