Masaku

Biography

Masaku was a legendary Kamba medicine man and seer after whom Machakos town and county are named. He lived in the hills near present-day Machakos town during the 18th or early 19th century and was renowned throughout Kamba territory for his healing abilities, prophetic gifts, and wisdom in settling disputes. Masaku was said to have extraordinary powers of divination, using a combination of gourd rattling, dream interpretation, and herbal knowledge to diagnose illness and predict future events. The area around his homestead became a gathering point for Kamba people seeking healing and counsel, and the settlement that grew there eventually became the nucleus of Machakos town. When the first European explorers and missionaries arrived in the area, they learned of Masaku's fame and recorded his name, which the British later corrupted into "Machakos" as they established their administrative center there. Masaku's fame extended beyond the Kamba, and he was known to have treated patients from neighboring Maasai and Kikuyu communities as well.