Kapenguria Six hero Bildad Kaggia keeps returning to Kenya's stage

John Sibi-Okumu's play "Kaggia," about the independence-era politician and Kapenguria Six detainee Bildad Kaggia, has returned to Nairobi stages several times since its debut in 2014, most recently for a nine-day run at the Kenya National Theatre from 11 to 19 October 2025, according to the Nairobi listings site In Nairobi and Business Daily Africa.

The most recent production was directed by Stuart Nash, with the actor Martin Kigondu in the title role, and was billed as the play's third rerun. It uses two fictional documentary filmmakers, Xan and Stacey, researching Kaggia's life as a framing device to retell his story in flashback, from his years as a colonial-government clerk in the 1940s to his death in 2005. The play was performed in both English and Kikuyu.

Kaggia was born in 1921 in Dagoretti, now part of Nairobi, and sat on the Mau Mau movement's central committee before his arrest in October 1952 during the colonial government's mass round-up of suspected nationalist leaders, Operation Jock Scott, according to Wikipedia's sourced account of his life. He was tried alongside Jomo Kenyatta, Fred Kubai, Paul Ngei, Achieng' Oneko and Kung'u Karumba — the "Kapenguria Six" — before a court in the remote north-western town of Kapenguria, in proceedings that opened on 3 December 1952.

All six were convicted of managing the proscribed Mau Mau organisation and sentenced to seven years' hard labour plus restriction. The verdict was later overshadowed by controversy: defence lawyer Denis Nowell Pritt called the prosecution's case "the most childishly weak" he had encountered in an important trial, and the trial judge was found to have had improper secret contact with the colonial governor during proceedings. Kaggia remained in detention until September 1961 and under restriction until that November.

Elected MP for Kandara in Kenya's first post-independence election in 1963, Kaggia served in Jomo Kenyatta's government but became known for his denunciations of corruption and for aligning with the left wing of the ruling KANU party — a stance that cost him his seat after Kenyatta and the politician Tom Mboya moved against that faction. He went on to join the opposition Kenya People's Union, formed by Oginga Odinga, and retired from politics in 1974 after failing to win back his seat. He died on 7 March 2005.

Business Daily Africa reported that Sibi-Okumu came to write the play after coming across, in a bookshop, the autobiography Kaggia had abandoned midway, and chose him over his five co-accused as a subject because, as the playwright put it, "his life offers a case study of what might have happened had the country taken a different political path."

Nash said he expected audiences to "discover more about Bildad Kaggia than they ever knew," as quoted by Business Daily Africa. The original 2014 production starred the late actor Harry Ebale in the title role, with a four-person cast; the 2025 revival expanded the ensemble to include Valentine Zikki, Gadwill Odhiambo, Foi Wambui and Annastacia Liz.

The Gikuyu-language history play "Waiyaki Wa Hinga," about the 19th-century Kikuyu leader who clashed with British colonial forces occupying an early fort near Nairobi and died in 1892 following his arrest by a colonial officer, according to Wikipedia's sourced account of his life, is due to return to the Kenya National Theatre at 7pm on 16 October 2026 following what organisers called a sold-out first run, according to the Nairobi Events Guide listings site. Bookings are taken through the ticketing site Madfun.

Sibi-Okumu himself remains active across stage and screen. On 2 May 2026 he won best lead actor in a television drama at the 14th Kalasha International Film and TV Awards in Nairobi, for his role in the Netflix series "Kash Money," according to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation's report on the ceremony. His stage career spans roughly 40 productions, alongside broadcasting work that included hosting the political interview programme "Summit" on Kenya Television Network and film roles in "The Constant Gardener" and "Shake Hands with the Devil," according to his Wikipedia profile.

Tickets for the October 2025 run were sold through the events platform KenyaBuzz.