Why end of WW II deserves a holiday

Kenya joined the rest of the world in marking Labour Day on May 1 to honour workers and recognise their contributions to our welfare.

The day is also called International Workers’ Day. In the US, however, it’s celebrated on the first Monday of September.

Curiously, we easily “copied” the US constitution and forgot small things like ensuring holidays come on Monday or Friday to stop disrupting the economy. Why celebrate May 1 on Thursday to slow down Friday?   

Labour Day seems more focused on the formally employed workers. Maybe we need another holiday, the Hustlers Day, perhaps, to honour men and women who work every day without the certainty of salaries,  pensions and job security.  

Hopefully, in future, beyond demanding higher wages and salaries to compensate for the rising cost of living, Labour Day would focus on productivity as the basis of higher wages and salaries.

In addition, we should focus more on the Protestant work ethic (PWE). Our attitude towards work is not very positive. Yet PWE posits that hard work and material success are signs of God’s grace or favour. Why, then, is corruption such a common word in Kenya? 

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Enough on Labour Day. May 8 will mark 80 years since the end of World War (WW) II. We should celebrate it because Kenya played a critical role in winning WW II. That part of history is either ignored or muted in our curriculum. We let others take credit for winning the Great Wars. Many Kenyans can name British, American or US generals who fought in WW II, but not their neighbours who fought in the same war. 

One of my great regrets is not investing enough time in exploring the experiences of Kenyans who fought in WW II, either as soldiers or porters.

I met two such veterans – Njuguna Njau (Guka wa Sungura), who fought in Libya, and Mburu Mwikonyi, who fought in Burma (Myanmar). 

By the time my interest shifted from physics to world wars, the two men were dead. I recorded Mburu’s story. Few scholarly works have focused on Kenyans in WW II.

One thesis at Rice University in the US is an exception, solemnly titled “For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today: A History of Kenyan African Soldiers in the Second World War” by Meshack Owino. Beyond porters and soldiers, Kenya was a training ground for pilots during WW II, as evidenced by the wreckage of planes in the Aberdares and Mt Kenya. There was another wreckage at Kasigau, near Voi.

Safety from the theatre of war made training possible. And perhaps the same reason Britons still train in Kenya, a varied landscape, from beaches to deserts. The Commonwealth cemeteries commemorate the war’s dead. They are spread out in Kenya and throughout the Commonwealth. Some Kenyans are buried outside the country in such cemeteries in faraway places such as Burma. Do their relatives know that?  

I have also heard that Kenyans raised money through harambees to help Britons buy war planes. Any confirmation?   

WW II had a payback for Kenyans. Without it, Kenya would probably still be a colony. The war exhausted Britain, hastening the coming of independence.

Additionally, African soldiers who fought alongside Britain in WWII realised that the white man was vulnerable and could die.

I did not know how mzungus had subdued us until I visited Happy Valley in Nyandarua about five years ago. When an elderly man saw a mzungu, he removed his hat, more than half a century after independence. 

On realising the white man was also vulnerable, Africans were emboldened to fight for freedom and land after returning home.  

Paradoxically, WW I brought whites to Kenya as settlers; another war took them away. One such veteran asked me a curious question. How come no injured or disabled soldiers returned home? Help me answer that. 

There have been attempts to honour these veterans, mostly led by the British government. What of our government?

I have unsuccessfully tried getting records of such veterans, including my own relatives. Who has them? What are the counties doing about honouring these veterans? Should they not be the first in their halls of fame? 

I got a feeling that in Africa, we fear the dead beyond their curses. Any reason why five presidents can’t locate where Dedan Kimathi was buried? The living don’t want to share attention with anyone, including the dead. 

Great nations honour men and women who went beyond the call of duty in defending freedom, sovereignty, and national honour. It’s instructive that some of these WW II veterans were also Mau Mau veterans and died without honour. Yet we spend hours watching action movies and clapping!  

In Europe, the US, Russia and other countries that fought in WWII, elaborate ceremonies will mark the end of WW II.  The ceremonies are timely, reminding us that war and chaos are not far. The wars in Ukraine, Gaza, DR Congo, Sudan, Yemen and many other places remind us that we must never let our guard down.  

Countries like the UK, the US, and Russia took great pride in stopping Nazi Germany. Why don’t we take similar pride? Didn’t our fathers and grandfathers die in the trenches of WW II?  

It’s a shame that after the Mau Mau liberation, we still fight among ourselves and hate each other.  

One of the most fascinating outcomes of WW II is having former adversaries such as the UK, Germany, Russia, the US, France, Japan, their allies, and adversaries become great trading partners. 

Can we emulate them and trade more among countries and countries?  That is why I am a big fan of the African Free Trade Area and regional integration. The new battlegrounds should be economic, using investment and trade as the weapons.  

Let us honour the men and women who fought in this Great War for us. The Kohima Epitaph in a war cemetery in India aptly captures the sacrifice of that generation: “For you tomorrow we gave our today.” How many of us can give our today for someone else’s tomorrow?