State House Nairobi And The Sleeping Habits Of Three Presidents

Of the three presidents Kenya has had thus far, it is only President Kibaki who has turned State house Nairobi into a 'permanent residence' surprising both friends and foe as to why such a wealthy man with a palatial private residence in the city and known for his frugality, would opt for these official accommodation which costs a fortune to maintain, more so when he is staying there.

Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta avoided sleeping at State house Nairobi at all costs causing the rumour mills to say he was convinced that the colonial ghosts still inhabited the place since it was the governors official residence during the colonial era.

Kenyatta would always travel to Gatundu to spend the night or even days if he had official duties in the city. During the crisis resulted by the assassination of Tom Mboya in July 1969, Kenyatta held an emergency cabinet meeting under a mango tree at his Gatundu residence.

Kenyatta's favourite residence was State house Nakuru and he appears to have felt more secure in the Rift valley where he also owned large tracts of land and had vast business interests not to mention friends from his community who had also acquired vast tracts of land in the vicinity.

State house Mombasa was also a favorite for Kenyatta but others say it was through doctors orders that Kenyatta chose to spend a lot of time at the coast where the climate suited his heath condition best.

Incidentally it was at State house Mombasa where Kenyatta collapsed and died in 1978. It was as a result of spending a lot of quality time at the coast that the then provincial commissioner Eliud Mahihu became a very powerful and wealthy man in Kenya.

Then came Daniel arap Moi, Kenya's second president who got off to a good start and assured Kenyans of peace and prosperity and with time favored, Nakuru to Nairobi State house but spent more time at his private residence at Kabarak which he acquired during the Kenyatta days.

While in Nairobi, Moi hardly slept at State house and always opted for his Kabarnet gardens home in Woodley near Kibera. He still stays there when he's visiting the city as the government allocated him the house which was supossed to be the official residence of the Vice president.

Moi also enjoyed staying at the coast and like his predecessor was also a frequent visitor to Mombasa where he enjoyed a lot of support from the coastal people until 2002 when they turned against his chosen heir Uhuru Kenyatta.

Then came Mwai Emilio Kibaki who has surprised many by making the Nairobi State house his 'permanent abode' inspite of having a palatial residence in the upmarket Muthaiga area in the outskirts of the city.

However, Kibaki's presidency has been influenced a lot by his eccentric wife Lucy who is known to have brought radical changes at State house early into his administration, raising eyebrows several times among his handlers.

Soon after Kibaki ascended to power, the bar was re-opened at State house Nairobi allowing consumption of alcohol at the country's most prestigious address something that had not existed for 24 years during Moi's era.

Moi loathed alcohol with passion after losing scores of his childhood friends to alcohol with many of them drinking themselves to death. The trend continued during his long stint as vice president.

The bar opened during Kibaki's era turned out to be a 24 hour facility where the likes of the then powerful minister of internal security Chris Murungaru and kitchen cabinet members spent the night there discussing political and other social issues with the president to the chagrin of the first lady.

During this period, the president was still recovering from a road accident that seemed to have affected his mental faculties as he suffered from frequent memory lapses and was advised by his doctors to quit alcohol.

This gave the first lady a perfect opportunity to shut down the facility which had degenerated to a place for senior politicians to idle and get drank at the expense of the tax payer.

Not to mention, the Narc election victory was celebrated for the better part of 2003 and where better to do it than at State house with the president and his handlers. Some senior politicians were known to leave State house at 5 a.m in the morning, almost daily.

These heavy drinking sessions found their way into the influential Economist magazine.

During the funeral of the late Yatta MP, J.P Mutiso, Murungaru and health minister Charity Ngilu staggered from the police helicopter that brought them to Yatta, only to pass out when they took their seats. It was later overheard amongst journalists at the function that they had been from State house.

Kibaki has chosen to do all official business and also sleep at State house Nairobi, being the first head of state to turn the imposing white structure into his home though the first lady commutes every morning from Muthaiga and hardly spend the night at State house for security reasons.

Known to be very short tempered, the first lady is said to have thrown the President into the swimming pool at State House while he was on a wheel chair forcing security men to dive inside with their clothes still on, to rescue their boss.

From that day, the first lady is never be left alone with the President and has to leave the grounds before nightfall to avoid any nasty situations that could jeopardize the health or life of the president.

Nevertheless, Lucy still controls what happens at State house and this was seen by the ejection of Kibaki's first state house comptroller Matere Keriri who fell out with her and was replaced by one obscure Hyslop Ipu.

Exclusive kumekucha interview with John Troon, the man who investigated the Ouko murder reveals that there is enough evidence to convict.