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Samuel Mbingu (born in 1893), also known as Muindi Mbingu, was amongst the founders of the Ukamba Members Association (UMA). He was widely acknowledged to be the face of the Kamba freedom struggle.

Education

Muindi traveled to Nairobi to receive an education due to limited educational opportunities in the Machakos District. Machakos District opposed the intentions of the Church Missionary Society and the Church of Scotland Mission. The district disapproved of it so much so that they refused the need for government aid. As a result, there were few educational opportunities. Thus, Mbingu, with two future associates of the UMA—Simon Kioko and Isaac Mwalonz —attended the Nairobi Church Missionary Society School. There, they pursued standard V and VI forms of education- equivalent to middle school education. Early Career

Muindi joined the police force after school. He chased a position in the colonial police to fight against mistreatment and injustice done by the colonial government. However, in the late 1930s, he along with the other leaders of the Ukamba Member Association—Elijah Kavual, Isaac Mwalonzi, and Simon Kioko—returned to the Machakos district. After returning home, Mbingu picked up farming as his latest occupation. As a farmer, Muindi made a life for his family growing crops and catering to livestock on the Machakos reserve. Nevertheless, that all changed by 1937 when the British government introduced the destocking policy.

Formation of the UMA

Before the formation of the Ukamba Member Association, tensions between Kenyans and the government were in an uproar. Secret meetings, reports, and telegrams had been held in objection to the government policy. Yet, the government’s issue of the destocking policy sparked the formation of UMA, founded by Muindi Mbingu. In the early 1900s, livestock was generally used for trade, rather than cash. In return, it framed the establishment of the Kenyan Kamba economy. As Britain colonized Kenya, it limited provisioning; allowing the Kamba to remain generally independent.

Nevertheless, in the early 1920s, the British government became conscious of the overgrazing of the Kamba Machakos. Land on the Machakos’ reserve could only sustain 53,400 cows, yet, subsequently grazed over 245,000 cows. Poor soil and poverty of the Kamba and Machakos reserve were said to be related to overgrazing.

In 1938, the government endorsed a meat-canning factory, Liebegs, to sustain government policies on overgrazing. The establishment of this European factory near the Machakos reserve contradicted the cultural traditions of the Kamba people. The government enforced the destocking policy by ordering Liebegs to be provided with large amounts of cattle from the Machakos reserve. Kamba farmers were forced to sell their livestock for slaughter. Reduced livestock caused significant financial discrepancies between older and younger farmers. Newly skilled farmers suffered the most because of the destocking policy. Their smaller herds could not risk the loss of any cattle, as it would risk the disappearance of the herd. However, seasoned farmers with the largest herds were able to risk the reduction. This, in turn, resulted in many young farmers joining the UMA. The government claimed that destocking was necessary to stabilize soil erosion. Yet, their motives were influenced by the interest of European settlers in the success of Liebegs. Settlers had hoped that the success of the factory would allow them to take part in the meat trade. The Akamba opposed and saw the destocking policy as a way to continue funding the government and a European company. Many refused to give up their herds and practiced acts of civil disobedience. Sharing these similar oppositions, Samuel Muindi Mbingu formed the UMA in the Ngelani sub-location of Machakos District.

The Ukamba Members Association shadowed its predecessor, the Kikuyu Central Association. The UMA was formed to address destocking. The UMA capitalized off of the destocking policy, using it as an opportunity to mobilize the community against minority decisions and government policy.

Due to their educational background, Muindi Mbingu and his associates: Elijah Kavulu, Isaac Mwalonzi, and Simon Kioko, were able to assist the Kamba people through monitored opposition meetings about the destocking policy. The UMA allyship to the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) gained them access to many resources. Muindi and others publicized their discontentment through the Kikuyu Central Association in Nairobi, letters to Kenyan politicians, and the Kikuyu nationalist publication, Muiguithania. The use of media played a significant role in the success of transcribing the propositions of the UMA to others across Kenya and other parts of Africa.

In hopes to halt the effects of the destocking policy, leaders of the Ukamba Members Association requested a meeting with the governor, however, the governor refused. The more cattle that were sold, the more discontent grew. Leaders of the UMA and KCA collected money and sworn oaths from the people of Ukamba to sever all ties to the administration. In retaliation to unheard demands, Muindi Mbingu led a non-violent protest of over three thousand men, women, and children. Accompanied by cattle, they marched 70 kilometers to Nairobi to present their oppositions to the Governor. They practiced a six-week stay of civil disobedience near Race Course until heard by the Governor.

In September of 1938, Samuel Mbingu was detained, arrested, and later deported to Lamu. There he was held for eight years. With the UMA’s most prominent leader arrested, the people continued their boycott. Word about the resistance spread to other areas. The resistance caught the attention of British newspapers like The Times, Telegraph, and the Yorkshire Post, and through correspondence columns in the ''Manchester Guardian." People in nearby areas such as Kangundo and Kathwanie abstained from terracing and reestablishments in grassland. Significant figures such as William Kitonga, abandoned his alliance for the government to join the Ukamba Members Association. The impact of Muindi’s arrest and acts of civil disobedience birthed several branches of the Ukamba association. The continuation of advocacy through social reform is later demonstrated in the years succeeding in World War II.

On December 1st, 1938, the destocking policy was dismantled because of actions taken by the UMA. Intimidated by the increasing alliances between the Ukamba Members Association, other political organizations such as the Kikuyu Central Association, army ranks, and police, the British government banned the KCA, the UMA, and all other political organizations.

Muindi Mbingu was later released from prison in 1947. As a result of his absence, Mbingu returned home to find nearly all of his elder children dead. However, soon after his return, he was brutally murdered. His death not only impacted the Ukambani people but also his children as he was their only immediate provider. According to Scholastica Luki Mbingu, daughter of the late Samuel Mbungi, his part in the resistance was the reason behind his death. She believed soldiers from the colonial administration killed him. Mbingu’s role in the history of the Ukambani people was pivotal. The impact of leadership taken by Samuel Mbingu is still retained by the Kamba people. Devoted to his cause, the people honored him with a statue and a street named after him in Nairobi.

Elijah Kavula and the other leaders of the UMA still held hostility towards the government. Grievances about lack of education, growing labor recruitments, and European settlements in the Mua Hills remained part of their freedom struggle. After Muindi’s death, they continued advocating their oppositions of the government to those that would listen, until their deaths.