Kubu Kubu

General Kubu Kubu
Born	Njagi Wa Ikutha 1920 Embu District, Eastern Province, Kenya
Died	September 1956
Cause of death	Lynching
Resting place	Muragari
Citizenship	Kenyan
Occupation	Freedom Fighter
Organization(s)	Kenya Land and Freedom Army
Known for	General during the Mau Mau Uprising
Successor	General Kavote

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 to the thud his feet made due to his heavy build.

He was the de facto Mau Mau military leader in the Embu county, 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 center in Embu Town, as well as a road in Nyeri Town and a main street in Runyenjes Town have also been named after him.

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