Mau Mau political prisoners escape from Mageta Island, Lake Victoria

On 5 February 1956, 11 Mau Mau prisoners, serving life sentences escaped from Mageta Island, Lake Victoria in a canoe. This was after the prisoners hacked to death a fisherman, Onimbo Haulu who refused them use of his canoe for escape. Haulu’s action imperilled   the escapees as his refusal could jeopardise the whole operation. After killing him they hid his mutilated body in a nearby bush. Under cover of darkness, the political prisoners escaped in a canoe to Usenge.  On arrival in Usenge, Kenya, they vanished but a massive hunt by the authorities led to the killing of three escapees. One of three escapees, Jotham Njoroge, was killed by an angry mob of residents in Alego while his two colleagues were killed in Sakwa. However, sympathetic residents assisted the rest to escape.The Mageta Island, Lake Victoria was chosen in 1953 as the best spot to lock up around 2,000 political prisoners who agitated for freedom. In December 1963 (seven years later), the country gained independence from Britain. Jomo Kenyatta, became the first President. One of the sources gives a different number of the prisoners who escaped at the Mageta Island, Lake Victoria.