Of Fort Smith and history that Kenyans chose to forget

Fort Smith in Upper Kabete near Nairobi. Mr. Titus Njonjo is in the foreground. (PHOTO: XN Iraki)

“This was the court house,” Titus Njonjo said as he showed me the small hut adjoining the big house, Fort Smith. Njonjo is one of Kenya’s pioneer indigenous golfers and once managed the University of Nairobi farm in Upper Kabete.

The house does not look big enough to be called a fort like Fort Jesus. It looks more modern than its historical predecessors. The cast iron columns, wooden window frames and grills betray the age of the old fort, about 130 years.

It has...