Clitoridectomy Crisis (1930)

A grievance that sparked a division amongst the Kikuyu and deteriorated their relationship with the British government is the issue of Female Genital Mutilation also known as clitoridectomy. It first came to the attention of the missionaries in 1906 when some Kikuyu girls were rushed to Thogoto Mission Hospital after their circumcision wounds had gone septic. Appalled by the practice, missionaries all over the central region campaigned against it. Although they attempted to handle the issue as a clinical matter, it was evident that this was foremost a cultural issue. The Kikuyu, under the Jomo Kenyatta-led KCA (Kikuyu Central Association), perceived it as such; an onslaught on their rites and customs. This is so because the rite was important in the stages of life of a kikuyu woman.

By 1928, the government had gotten fully involved even as the church hardened their stance on the matter. Since they were the body responsible for the dissemination of services such as education and healthcare, the church threatened to excommunicate all Africans who made their daughters undergo the rite. As a result, the Kikuyu were divided into the purist faction (Karinga) and the loyalist faction (Kirore). The Karinga faction founded the Kikuyu Independent Schools Association (KISA) and the Kikuyu Karinga Schools Association (KKSA) under the leadership of Jomo Kenyatta, Mbiyu Koinange and Parmenas Mockerie.

Disaster struck on 3rd January 1930 when a 62-year-old American missionary named Hulda Kumpf was found killed in her cottage at Kijabe Mission. Hulda had been vocal in her opposition to FGM. Her body revealed that she had been suffocated, with a mattress doubled up over her face but even more atrociously, she had been circumcised!

Her close friend and colleague Virginia Blakeslee released her book in 1956 titled Beyond the Kikuyu Curtain. Within she writes that she was the second person in that room and contrary to reports given, Hulda Stumpf had not been a victim of a botched circumcision procedure. The missionary however asserts that she had indeed been brutally beaten. This information was refuted by Professor David Anderson in 2018 who, with documentary evidence, proves that she was not the second person in the room and never even examined the body. He assumed that Blakelee was deliberately diverting scandal and controversy that may affect mission work funding.

Governor Edward Grigg realized how precarious the situation in Kiambu district was and moved swiftly to try and mitigate it. First, he increased interception of letters exchanged between African leaders. Then he made full use of Special Branch and its informants to get deeper details of the underground activities of the KCA. He also outlawed political fundraising, speechmaking and native assemblies

KCA founder Joseph Kangethe was arrested for breaking this prohibition. He appealed his two-month sentence imposed on him by a native court. Margery Perham attended these proceedings in the Nairobi courthouse filled to the brim with Kikuyu tribesmen. The white court in turn raised his sentence to two years imprisonment. Margery could only watch with apprehension as the natives quietly looked on as this injustice was done

One of the points brought up during his briefings by the Special Branch was the circulation of a protest song called ‘Muthiringu’ which now featured a verse glorifying the rite, calling for unity among the people and recognising Kenyatta as their leader. The song also ridiculed the British administration and more scathingly, the African headmen subordinate to the government. Grigg addressed this in a baraza held at Kiambu in February 1930. He recognized the loyalty of the older Kikuyu population but criticised the ‘younger members’ who were trying to sow discord within the tribe. He denounced the KCA for the use of that derogatory song and empowered the chiefs and native headmen to punish dissidence wherever it arose.

As for the murder of Hulda, for all his threats and machinations, Grigg never brought the killers to justice.

Read more on Governor Edward Grigg's tenure here