Page 43 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 31

Art & Culture
Beyond the

Monuments

of Mashujaa

Wanyama Ogutu, Nairobi Kenya.

University. It is a gigantic monument of the Shujaa
Jomo Kenyatta waving a flywhisk and holding his
walking stick. The pose suggests he is walking
toward Murima (his naïve home in Mount Kenya).
The sculpture wears a famous big leather jacket,

which symbolizes fighting for Kenyan independence.
The body posture displays a man rising from the
infix of Kapenguria’s detention and ready to fly the

flag of the Republic of Kenya.

At the compound of Kenyatta International
Conference Centre in Nairobi (KICC), there is a Nelson Mandela of South Africa
12-foot-seated bronze statue of Jomo Kenyatta in a Source: Wango (2021) The East African Journal -EANSO

pensive pose. He wears African ceremonial regalia
and a famous cap. His hands rest on a walking
stick with his famous flywhisk. He is also wearing a monumental man, George

traditional sandals without socks. The statue looks Washington, father of our country.
directly over the skyline of Nairobi. Its backdrop is A man of humility who came to
the Supreme Court of Kenya, a symbol of the rule of greatness reluctantly. He led America
law and constitutional legal authority. At its front is out of revolutionary victory into infant
the parliament of Kenya, a symbol of national unity. nationhood. Off to one side, the stately

In the same parliament is a replica of the statue of memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The
Jomo Kenyatta, like that of the Department of Fine Declaration of Independence flames
Art at Kenyatta University. Who will eloquently with his eloquence. And then, beyond

proclaim the greatness of Shujaa, Baba Jomo the reflecting pool, the dignified
Kenyatta? columns of the Lincoln Memorial.
Whoever would understand in his
“Directly in front of me, the monument to heart the meaning of America will find

ISSUE 31 | NOVEMBER 2024 43