Waziri Mayai Wa Maradhi
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 28, 2026
- 409
- 98
The War Memorial Monument (Native War Memorial), in Kenyatta Avenue, commemorates the service of Africans fighting for the British forces in defense of the British Empire during the East African campaign of the First World War, and in particular the almost 50,000 African soldiers who perished in the war.
The monument is located along Kenyatta Avenue in the center of Nairobi.
The three African men represent a porter, an askari, and a gun carrier; none of them are identified by name or rank. The monument was designed by British sculptor James Alexander Stevenson (1881-1937) in 1924.
The inscription, full of colonialist pathos, misses the point that Kenyans did not fight for their own country but for a foreign colonial power.
"This is to the memory of the native African troops who fought; to the carriers who were the hands and feet of the army and to all other men who served and died for their king and country in Eastern Africa in the Great War, 1914-1918. If you fight for your country even if you die, your sons will remember your name.”
The monument is located along Kenyatta Avenue in the center of Nairobi.
The three African men represent a porter, an askari, and a gun carrier; none of them are identified by name or rank. The monument was designed by British sculptor James Alexander Stevenson (1881-1937) in 1924.
The inscription, full of colonialist pathos, misses the point that Kenyans did not fight for their own country but for a foreign colonial power.
"This is to the memory of the native African troops who fought; to the carriers who were the hands and feet of the army and to all other men who served and died for their king and country in Eastern Africa in the Great War, 1914-1918. If you fight for your country even if you die, your sons will remember your name.”