![]() ‘By that’, Gatheru wrote, ‘and that only, very many people were oathed voluntarily’. Footnote 3 Instead it was the Mau Mau's promise to deliver ‘freedom, land and every good thing we wished to have’ that won it the popular support of a deeply divided society. He believed that it was neither force nor threat of supernatural punishment that compelled most to pledge their support to the insurgents, although both were troubling for many initiates. Footnote 2 Unlike missionaries, colonial officials and some Christian converts, Gatheru was not greatly concerned with the ritual aspects of oathing. Footnote 1 Gatheru understood his loyalism with reference to the oath promising to support Mau Mau that perhaps up to 90 per cent of the local population had taken. During the Emergency of 1952–60, loyalists such as Gatheru supported the colonial military campaign against fellow Gikuyu, Embu and Meru amongst Mau Mau's insurgents. ![]() ![]() Writing to a local newspaper in November 1954, Francis Gatheru explained his opposition to the Mau Mau rebellion. ![]()
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