The Evolution of the Kamba as a Martial Race, 1890–1970

fter confidently describing the Kamba serving in the King’s African Rifles (the kar, Britain’s East African colonial army) as loyal “soldiers of the Queen” during the Mau Mau Emergency, a press release by the East Africa Command went on to characterize the Kamba as a “fighting race.” These sentiments were echoed by other colonial observers in the early 1950s who deemed the Kamba a hardy, virile, courageous, and “mechanically-minded tribe.” Considered by many officers to be the “best [soldierly] material in Africa,” the Kamba supplied the kar with askaris (soldiers) at a rate that was three to four times their percentage of the overall Kenyan population. ¹

Interestingly enough, many Kamba appeared to embrace the British assertion that they were a martial race. Most Kamba veterans of the colonial army recall their military service with pride and take credit for the success and efficiency of the Kenyan battalions of the kar. As one informant put it, “Being a soldier was an honor and [the Kamba] believed in doing a job well.” ² Over the course of the colonial era, the Kamba developed [End Page 671] a strong sense of entitlement toward military service. On the eve of independence, a Kamba politician E. N. Mwendwa attacked a motion in the Kenyan legislature to open the new national army of Kenya to all ethnic groups: “There are only two important jobs which the Akamba have to do: one is to keep cattle; the other is to go into the army. We are prepared to accept the Kikuyus and Luos as teachers, but we ask them to accept the Akamba and Kalenjin as army people. We are going to defend them.” ³ The question therefore arises as to why the Kamba accepted the British assertion that they were the best soldiers in East Africa. More important, how did the Kamba themselves define what it meant to be a martial race?

Ethnic military stereotypes of this sort were hardly unique. Most imperial powers in Africa and Asia believed that certain sections of their subject populations had inherent combative and militaristic qualities that made them naturally suited for military service. In recruiting for their West African colonial army, the Tirailleurs Sénégalais, French commanders believed the primary West African “martial races” were the Tukolor, Malinke, Wolof, and, most important, the Bambara. ⁴ Even the United States, which certainly had a colonial relationship with its indigenous population, recruited Native Americans during World War II on the assumption that they possessed superhuman courage, endurance, tracking, and fighting abilities. ⁵