Kenya's founding president, Jomo Kenyatta was among the six freedom fighters who were detained at Kapenguria in the year 1953.
Proceedings of the case stored at the Kenya National Archives shows that colonial government relied on Rawson Macharia who was indicated to have provided false testimony.
According to the proceedings, Kenyatta was imprisoned after Macharia provided false testimony against him leading to his conviction during the Kapenguria trials.
Six years after the Kapenguria trials that led to the imprisonment of the six freedom fighters, Time magazine revealed how Mr. Macharia gave a false testimony against the late president.
"Star witness, Rawson Mbogwa Macharia, a frail little Kikuyu shopkeeper, testified six years ago that Kenyatta himself had administered the Mau Mau oath on him.
"That he had been stripped naked and made to walk seven times through an arch of banana leaves and to drink human blood." read a statement on the magazine.
According to the magazine, Mr. Macharia showed editors in Nairobi a letter sent to him by the then Attorney General drafted before the Kapenguria trials.
In the letter, the colonial government was to reward Macharia with a plane ride to England, a two-year college course and a government job in return for his testimony.
"The Kenya government did indeed keep its promise, but nothing seemed to satisfy Macharia. Found unfit for one job, he huffily turned down another," stated the magazine.
Later on he signed an affidavit for People's Convention Party leader, Tom Mboya, charging that the government had paid him to lie.
In response to this, the colonial government later admitted that it had paid Macharia 29 dollars per month only to testify and not to lie. Macharia was then put on trial for signing a false affidavit.
#historynow