Apolitical Gema Backs Raila: Smart or Suicide?

Folks, it is time for RE-INVENTION. Old wine are out in full force searching for new bottles: from non-political Karume-led Gema to reformist YK92.

The Jewish folklore of fattening a goat before eventually slaughtering couldn't have been more apt. But again in politics only interests are permanent and nothing else is.

We surely live in interesting political times. And history must be the richer for it as it beckons to repeat itself and resoundingly so.

Bishop Dr. Lawi Imathiu should have asked EXPERTS here at Kumekucha to know that his kite won't fly. He would have been promptly reminded of the sophisticated political mindset of the same people whose interests he claims to advance. No brainer.

Interesting time indeed when a tribal grouping DENOUNCES tribalism. The whole thing leaves you wondering whether we are ushering in a new dawn or staring at a mirage.

Well, the dye is cast and EXCITABLE experts can join the party in bashing and gloating in equal measure. Just take your pick.

I knew this day was coming.

I came back to Kenya about eight months ago intent on laying groundwork for a political run. With a couple of friends, I went to Rarieda and surveyed the landscape. For my run, things looked pretty good and my friends abroad urged me to go for it. I thought I would until this past Sunday.

On Sunday, after deep introspection, I decided to go in an entirely different direction. Since my first love has always been books, it was easy for me to decide to work for my church as a book man in a territory that will comprise the nations in East and Central Africa.

This will mark my last posting on this authoritative blog. I thank Chris, Phil, Sayra, Taabu and all the friends who have put up with me over the period I've been here. Indeed, I thank Chris for graciously inviting me to be one of the contributors. I have enjoyed every moment of it. I will read Kumekucha everyday and know that every Kenyan who wants to know what is going on around will too.

For those who may have been offended by anything I said while here, I ask your forgiveness. We are all human and prone to mistakes. But I ask that together we pray for our nation. I'm encouraged by the unity that seems to have taken root and hope this will sustain deep into the future. What we have to avoid like a plague is those politicians who still want our top consideration for electing them to be some crude tribal arithmetic that meshes into a formula called KKK. Men of that ilk have nothing to offer this nation other than doom.

And though my good friend Chris believes Raila will fade before 2012, I want to predict today that Mr. Odinga will be this nation's next President and he will be the best President this nation will have ever had. Just like Chris asked us to hold him to his words, I say hold me to mine.

It pains me to say good bye, folks, but that it has to be.

I love you all and God bless Kenya!

Sam Okello
Sahel Publishing
South Bend, London, Nairobi
www.sahelpublishing.net

Dark secrets of the presidency Part 4

Moi's fears

Sometimes a writer starts off intending to write some brief piece but then it suddenly takes on a life of its’ own and writes itself into a lengthy prose, almost a book sometimes. This is exactly what has happened with my weekend special this weekend.

For that reason I will continue with part 5, 6, 7 and 8 next weekend.

For now let me wind up this weekend’s excitement with this last piece for this particular weekend.

That first cabinet meeting after Kenyatta’s death which was held on August 22nd 1978 was a very fascinating affair to say the least. During Kenyatta’s presidency the entire cabinet would usually assemble and wait for the president to arrive for the meeting. Conversation around the table would usually be in Kikuyu during this wait. This forced Moi who was Nilote to learn the Bantu tongue of the Kikuyus. Many times the cabinet would wait in vain for Kenyatta only to be told that he was not coming usually due to health reasons.

On this day of August 22nd 1978 all the cabinet members were there and this time they were waiting for somebody who had been one of them only the day before and somebody whom they had always derided. Moi did not keep the cabinet waiting and came in shortly after they were all there, accompanied by AG Charles Njonjo. All eyes were on him as he sat at the head of the table where Kenyatta used to sit. Moi’s eyes were red and he looked like he had been crying. For a brief moment members of the presidential press unit were allowed inside to take photographs which they did and left.

Moi had a difficult task ahead of him. Njonjo made it easy by making it almost unnecessary for him to speak although he was chairing that historic cabinet meeting. The main agenda for the day were the arrangements of the state funeral for Kenyatta the following weekend. Still Moi felt overwhelmed by the challenges ahead of him. The current constitution says that in the event of the death of the president, the vice president will take over for a period of 3 months pending elections for a new president. Three months is a long time and Moi must have had his uncertainties over ever retaining the presidency. More so if you take into consideration the curious incident with Njonjo which I recounted in the last post.

Moi avoided eye contact with most of those seated in the cabinet room with him. Amongst them were people who had plotted his murder only a few hours earlier to ensure that he would never rise to the presidency.
Dr Njoroge Mungai known to his fellow Kiambu mafia members as "Mr Fix it."

The two men he must have feared most on that table were Dr. Njoroge Mungai and Mbiyu Koinange. Both were very powerful and influential members of the Kiambu Mafia. Both had no doubt thought about this day many times over the years but not in their wildest nightmares did they ever picture Daniel arap Moi seated at Kenyatta’s usual chair in the cabinet room. Moi’s fears were not unfounded. It is widfely believed that both men went behind Kenyatta’s back and ordered the hit on Tom Mboya in July 1969. It is said that Kenyatta was livid after he found out what they had done but there was obviously nothing he could do about it. The two individuals were said to be very ambitious and determined that the presidency would fall into their hands on Kenyatta’s death. At one point Njoroge Mungai is said to have bluntly asked Kenyatta to name him as his successor.

The foreign press was even speculating that the real “matata” (political chaos and violence) would start after the funeral and when the presidential elections were announced. It was expected that a member of the Kiambu mafia would stand for the presidency against Moi. Others remembered Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who was also known to be interested in the presidency. Indeed Odinga had turned up to view Kenyatta’s body at State house and with cameras from the local and international press rolling, he had proceeded to utter many words in Dholuo over the body while waving his fly whisk. Those who did not understand the language speculated that he was thanking the gods for the death of a man he had lifted to the presidency only to be dumbed later by the same ungrateful man. For these reasons there was a lot of tension in the country.
Mbiyu Koinange the powerful minister of State and most respected member of the Kiambu mafia.

Nobody would have guessed that at the end there would be no election because nobody opposed Moi and he was confirmed as the next president of Kenya. So where did all these pretenders to the throne disappear to?

It is not clear exactly what happened but an interesting meeting of the Kiambu mafia shortly after Kenyatta’s death, attended by Kamba politician Paul Ngei may give us a few pointers.

It is said that most members of the Kiambu mafia felt that Moi was not a threat and there was no hurry for them to make a move because he was simply “a passing cloud.” Paul Ngei strongly disagreed with them and told them that the presidency was a very powerful seat and if they allowed Moi to be president even for a couple of weeks, they would never be able to remove him. It is not clear what Ngei was suggesting that the Kiambu mafia do to remove Moi because whatever it was it would have been unconstitutional. Not that the Kiambu mafia were not known for ignoring the constitution in their quest for the presidency.

To the Kiambu mafia anybody else as interim president would have been a threat but surely not Moi of all people. The man who had succumbed to so much humiliation including a search of his very private parts by a mere assistant commissioner of police when he was VP. The guy did not even speak English too well and this is what had forced some members of the Kiambu mafia to take over proceedings from him during those foreign trips. They had been ashamed of Moi. The man did not even look intelligent at all and some felt that Kenya was being painted in a bad picture with such a man as Vice president and leader of the Kenyan delegation. (You have to understand that throughout his presidency Kenyatta never boarded an aircraft and so Moi had to represent him in all foreign trips where the president was required to attend. Those were a lot of trips even in those days.) In other words what Ngei was saying about Moi being a threat was laughable to most members of the Kiambu mafia and those who thought they knew Moi well.

When you take this information and consider it along the bitter power struggle that was going on amongst Kenyatta’s insiders it all points to the fact that this decision by the Kiambu mafia to take their time and accept Moi as the sole compromise candidate for interim president is what dealt a death blow to the ambitions of many for the presidency. The role of AG Charles Njonjo in helping the president to quickly settle down and consolidate his position is yet another major reason.

In the end Paul Ngei’s words were to prove to be very prophetic indeed.

In this context it is easy to understand why so many political analysts divide the Moi presidency very neatly into two. Just like his predecessor, Moi started with very high ideals and determined to make a difference. Admittedly Moi’s honeymoon lasted a lot longer than Kenyattas’. It lasted a whole 3 years as opposed to the few months Kenyatta had before he started having nightmares of him and his family being executed in some firing squad after a successful coup in Kenya. This nightmare took over and guided his every decision as president from that point onwards. Exactly the same thing happened to Moi only that in his case he faced a real coup.

To be continued next weekend.

Get a Free copy of almost the entire book Dark Secrets of the Kenyan Presidency

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Dark secrets of the presidency Part 3

The suffering of Moi

After Jaramogi Oginga Odinga resigned from the Kenyatta administration (actually he was forced out without being told directly to leave by political frustration and pressure masterminded by one Tom Mboya) Kenyatta appointed Joseph Zuzarte Murumbi vice president.

Kenya’s second Vice President was a fascinating character and it is sad that too little has been written about him (partly due to the fact that the man kept his mouth firmly shut until his death in 1990 at the age of 79.) It is said that he was the offspring of a Goan trader and a Maasai mother but spent the first 16 years of his life in India. After that he traveled the world extensively and at one time worked in London as press and tourist officer in the Moroccan embassy.

Kenya's short serving second Vice President, Joseph Murumbi.

Mystery has always surrounded Murumbi’s sudden resignation on August 31st 1966 after serving as VP for only 15 months. The truth is revealed in this earlier exclusive Kumekucha post.

To understand the whole scenario better, picture a typical Kenyan today in the Diaspora who gets a chance to get involved in the politics of their motherland after years of working abroad. That kind of person is bound to be extremely patriotic and eager to do good for their country. They are also likely to be very idealist in their approach. Now you can begin to understand the disillusionment he must have encountered as VP to a president who was surrounded by bloodthirsty selfish individuals who were amassing land and wealth like there was no tomorrow. But the final straw for Murumbi was probably the discovery that his close friend Pio Gama Pinto had been murdered by the Kiambu mafia. Lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee agrees and says; "The assassination of Pinto illustrated to Murumbi the shocking extent to which the new government had departed from its promises. His feeling, evidently, was that these were not the values for which so many had suffered, and his departure was effectively only a matter of time."

Pinto was assassinated on February 25th 1965 and Murumbi was not VP at the time. So what is meant here is that Murumbi was already disillusioned with the Kenyatta government before his appointment as VP and probably thought that he would change things as the “second in command”. It is also possible that Murumbi would not have known for sure who ordered the hit on Pinto until he had served several months as Vice President where he was bound to come across a lot more privileged information than an ordinary minister would ordinarily have access to.

After Murumbi, Daniel arap Moi was appointed in late 1966. How the Moi appointment was decided on is rather fascinating. Powerful AG Charles Njonjo was traveling in the presidential limousine with President Kenyatta somewhere close to Nakuru. Njonjo was making suggestions of possible VPs and Kenyatta was dismissing them one by one. Names like Tom Mboya rolled off Njonjo’s mouth but it was obvious why such a person would not be appointed. Kenyatta had learnt his lesson with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and basically what he was looking for was a non-threatening (to the presidency) person who would also be a political asset. When Njonjo’s top choices ran out he started mentioning the names of everybody and anybody he could think of and each time Kenyatta shook his head. When he mentioned Moi, Kenyatta hesitated for a few seconds and then smiled and nodded his head in agreement. In the months and years to follow Moi helped Kenyatta to settle many Kikuyus in the Rift Valley amongst his Kalenjin community after their prime land in central province had been taken over by Kenyatta and his close associates. So in that respect he was a great asset to Kenyatta in planting the seeds for the terrible tribal clashes that were to come later and long after Kenyatta’s death.

But being VP was not easy for Moi. Indeed several times he even complained to Kenyatta about the harassment he was suffering. Kenyatta did nothing. There were even times when Moi would lead a Kenyan delegation to some conference abroad but end up being totally ignored and taking orders from others in the delegation who were in reality much more powerful than he was. Like Dr. Njoroge Mungai.

But the abuse did not stop there. In one very humiliating incident, Moi returned from a foreign trip to be cornered by James Mungai, assistant commissioner of police in charge of Rift valley province based in Nakuru where Kenyatta spent most of his time. Mungai was related to Kenyatta. Read more about James Mungai and how he lives today in this earlier Kumekucha post.

Mungai told Moi that he suspected that he had come back into the country with guns to overthrow Kenyatta and so he was subjected to the kind of search that only prison inmates have to go through. What that means is that somebody is stripped naked and that place down there where inmates hide all kinds of stuff is searched thoroughly. It is said that Moi felt that this was too much and complained directly to Kenyatta. Kenyatta answered by asking a question. Who is the minister in charge of the police? (At that time Moi had the home affairs docket and the police was under that minsitry. Moi himself later transferred the police to the office of the president when he took over power.) Moi replied that he was the minister in charge of the police and that was the end of that conversation.

Moi went through many humiliating experiences as Vice president. To his credit he weathered the storm and managed to remain humble and persevering. And although he came very close to resigning on one or two occasions, he held on to the post until Kenyatta’s death in August 22nd 1978.

Interestingly until the last minute, Moi did not have any ambitions for the presidency of Kenya despite being VP for so long. In fact one of the compelling factors that convinced him to hold onto the post with the suffering that went with it was the fact that he knew too much and it was clear that the Kiambu mafia would not be comfortable with him out of government considering how much he knew. It was likely that on his resignation from government, he would have either died or just disappeared without trace as was the norm.

I am personally convinced that there was divine intervention in Moi’s survival and ascension to the presidency. Sample the following.

There was a paramilitary group formed called the Ngoroko. This unit was set up after the change-the-constitution bid by the Kiambi mafia failed. The Ngoroko’s mission was simple. On the death of Kenyatta they were supposed to wipe out all opposition to one of the members of the Kiambu mafia taking over the presidency. It was obvious that on Kenyatta’s death orders would be relayed to the paramilitary group through Mbiyu Koinange who was always at the president’s side at a key member of the Kiambu mafia. Koinange was a minister of state in the office of the president. Now on the night that Kenyatta died in Mombasa, Koinange was away on business in Nairobi. He had flown out that very evening. That is the first time he was not at the president’s side in 20 years. Absolutely amazing. Still word leaked out somehow that Kenyatta was dead and roadblocks were set up near Nakuru because it was known that Moi was at his farm near Nakuru. It was critical that Moi got back to Nairobi to summon a cabinet meeting and for AG Charles Njonjo to ensure that the constitution was followed to the letter. Moi abandoned his official car and instead was bundled into the boot of a very old Peugeot 404 that he used to use around the farm. That is how he got past a deadly Ngoroko roadblock and made it back to Nairobi. For those who know what an old Peugeot 404 looks like, it is a car with a rather large boot. Still Moi is a very tall man and it must have been very uncomfortable traveling most of the way back to Nairobi inside that boot.

Again it is said that after the first cabinet meeting, Moi was terrified and confided in Njonjo that he did not feel that he was able to step into Kenyatta’s shoes. Hawa wa-Kikuyu wataniua (these Kikuyus will kill me) Moi is said to have told Njonjo in Kiswahili whilst almost in tears. Njonjo quietly explained that he would stand by his side and help him settle into the presidency and would ensure that he was protected from any would-be assassins. Moi reluctantly accepted and in many ways this explains the power that Njonjo wielded in the early Moi years where he would ride in the presidential limousine with Moi and GG Kariuki and Nicholas Biwott practically all the time. At one point people would mockingly refer to the three politicians as Moi’s three wives.

Amazingly on taking over power Kenya’s second president was ready to forgive all this suffering that he had gone through. But something dramatic would happen that would completely change his approach to the presidency and begin a reign of terror in Kenya that almost rivaled the Kenyatta days.

Get a Free copy of almost the entire book Dark Secrets of the Kenyan Presidency

To be continued. In the next post More amazing facts about the presidency.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Dark secrets of the presidency Part 2

Bloodthirsty inner circle

Those who surrounded President Kenyatta were determined that the presidency of Kenya would forever remain only amongst them. Something like the royal family in the United Kingdom. There were confident enough that they were smart enough to pull this off. They saw that wisdom and experience to run the country could only be found amongst their midst and could hardly be found anywhere else in the country.

At one point they even went as far as administering oaths to the effect that the presidency would never cross the River Chania to other Kikuyus in neighbouring Nyeri or even Muranga. The presidency was firmly in the hands of Kiambu Kikuyus and that is why the president’s inner circle were often referred to as the Kiambu mafia.

Admittedly the Kiambu mafia deserved that tag much more than the Mount Kenya mafia that was to emerge much later during the Kibaki presidency. These characters were absolutely ruthless and many times acted in ways that suggested that apart from being power hungry, they were also very blood thirsty. It seemed that they were always itching for an opportunity to kill somebody. It was soon clear than anybody who dared to oppose Kenyatta would almost certainly end up dead. And it seemed that Kenyatta had ears everywhere so that people were terrified of even saying anything against him even in the privacy of their bedrooms.

Many times folks would have a private conversation in whispers in some corner of a seedy bar that was well out of the way and the next week they would be detained without trial or even worse go missing without trace. In those days families of persons who went missing had very zero options. It was unthinkable to go to court and prevail on the government to produce anybody. That was just plain suicide.

To further spread fear amongst the people, murders by the inner Kenyatta circle were executed in a manner that was straight out of some horror movie. It was not enough for the person to be killed but on many occasions their private parts would be cut off and stuffed into their mouths. This is exactly what happened with the JM assassination and a few others. If a person did not get shot, this was the “signature” that would confirm to the observant exactly who had carried out the execution.

In the early days there were plenty of people brave and stupid enough to satisfy the blood thirstiness of the Kiambu mafia but as the years wore on fewer people were willing to take the chance of even speaking evil against the Kenyatta administration in private or even daring to question anything that his government did.

A Kenyan well known to this writer took a trip to the UK in the mid 70s and while watching British TV discovered that the Observer newspaper had that morning published an article about one of the members of the first family. They quietly slipped out of their hotel carefully looking over their shoulders several times and purchased a copy of the newspaper from an outlet that was some distance from the hotel. They returned to their hotel room and carefully locked the door to read the article that described in great detail a business that first lady Mama Ngina was involved in of mining and then exporting precious stones mainly from the Taita Taveta area. The article revealed that the first lady was already one of the wealthiest people in the country. Hardly a seditious article on the first family, but on finishing reading the piece with his heart thumping violently against his chest, the man burnt the newspaper and flushed the ashes down the toilet. That was the fear that Kenyans felt in those days and it did not matter that one was thousands of miles away from home in London.

In this kind of scenario the attitude of Kenyatta’s inner circle was hardly surprising. They behaved as if they were gods. It seemed they could even hear what Kenyans were whispering in the privacy of their bedrooms. One interesting incident occurred in the early 70s that illustrates this point.

Jomo Kenyatta’s speeches were boringly predictable. He would always warn people from playing around with the valuable Uhuru which had been won by bloodshed. And he then he would often congratulate the ordinary Kenyans on their continued hard work and love for their country. He would often pepper his Kiswahili speeches by suddenly breaking into Kikuyu vernacular.

So Kenyans were shocked one day when in his speech the president said that it had come to his attention that some people were saying that he was incapable of fathering children. These people claimed that when the colonialists had detained him they had tortured him to such an extent that he had lost his manhood and ability to sire children. There was shocked silence at first with many conservative Kenyans embarrassed that the president would even talk about such things in public.

Kenyatta went on to castigate the people spreading such lies about him and said that any Kenyan who doubted his manhood should go ahead and ask Mama Ngina (the president’s fourth and last wife who was seated right there at the dais a few short paces from where Kenyatta was making his speech. She was visibly shaken and very embarrassed (wouldn’t you be?). Were the rumours true? Was Kenyatta bluffing? Or was it all untrue? It is difficult to tell and we will probably never know.

And so those close to the president started plotting on how they would inherit the presidency from a man who was still very much alive. Admittedly by this time it was clear to those close to him that the president would not last for much longer. He regularly slipped in and out of commas and it was clear that his health was rapidly failing. Of course nobody would dare discuss the president’s health in public. But those close to Kenyatta knew what was happening. And so a curious power struggle which would in the end hand over the presidency to Daniel arap Moi on a silver platter started. At the height of this power struggle a group of Kiambu politician including Njenga Karume, Kihika Kimani and others started a campaign to have the constitution changed so that in the event of the president dying or being incapacitated; power would not automatically go to the Vice President pending elections. The idea was to ensure that when Kenyatta died (and it was now obvious that it would happen very soon) it would be easier for one of them to take over power constitutionally.

The power struggle was intense and pitted mainly those very close and some of them related to the president against another group led by powerful Attorney general (who was literally running the country then) Charles Mugane Njonjo. Mwai Kibaki was one of the chief characters in Njonjo’s camp on this one. This in itself was curious because the two individuals hardly agreed on anything else and their personal squabbles have even been visible during the Kibaki presidency.

Interestingly a few days after Kenyatta died in August 1978, Time magazine listed one of the front runners to take over the presidency as being Njoroge Mungai (the president’s nephew and personal physician who was also a legislator for a long time until he lost his Dagoretti seat to one Dr Johnstone Muthiora. Muthiora was promptly assassinated by the Kiambu mafia, his main crime being deposing Mungai from the Dagoretti seat. It is widely believed that while he was in admitted at Nairobi hospital a lethal injection was administered on him). The other person mentioned in the Time article was Mbiyu Koinange.

In his last days Kenyatta would slip in and out of consciousness for days on end and many times would look like he had lost it and was not even aware of his surroundings. But on a few occasions he would make statements to those surrounding him that would display his sharp crisp mind was still very much alert and around. On one such occasion he dismissed those fighting for a change of the constitution to block Moi from ascending to power with one simple Kikuyu proverb. The proverb says that somebody who wants to rope a cow does NOT show the cow the rope. The Kikuyu proverb simply meant that the change-the-constitution group was going about their mission in a very unwise way because they were making their intentions rather obvious to their target Daniel arap Moi.

See earlier Kumekucha article on the character of Kenyatta

Get a Free copy of almost the entire book Dark Secrets of the Kenyan Presidency

To be continued. In the next post: Dramatic behind the scenes events that brought Moi to power.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Dark secrets of the presidency Part 1

Kumekucha Weekend Special

I have been to State House Nairobi. Once.

It is such an anticlimax this revered house on the hill. The sacrifices, the murders, the killings and all the crazy things Kenyans have done in the name of getting to live at this address, you would have thought that it would be a much grander place than what you end up seeing. Alas the red carpet is clean and well maintained but it is rather old. In fact the whole place looks like it needs an interior designer badly.

In the 46 years of independence only three men have called this place their official residence and held the office of President of the republic of Kenya. Johnstone Kamau (aka Jomo Kenyatta) for 15 years, Daniel Torotich arap Moi for 24 years and the rest of the years Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki. Interestingly whatever happens Kibaki will be the man who has occupied that office for the shortest time and yet history will record that his presidency has caused the most damage. This weekend we shall try to understand these three men better because in understanding them we will understand our beloved country much better. Trust me on that and hold me to account for it when we finish our journey late Sunday evening. We shall dig into their true characters and reveal many secrets in their lives.

So lets start from the beginning shall we.

Violent struggle has happened in Kenya several times through its short history but it has never worked out too well or even proved to be effective. More recently the saba saba riots that hit the country in the 1990s were quickly crashed by security forces. In the end change came to Kenya mainly as a result of pressure from the International community.

Still many Kenyans cling to the mirage that our independence was won from a violent freedom struggle. Very romantic but NOT true. Yes the gallant Mau Mau warriors spread terror in everybody. Indeed they inspired others in far away lands most notably Nelson Mandela which led to the formation of the armed wing of the ANC in South Africa. You have all heard of the Umkonto We Sizwe (spear of the Nation). Indeed the influence of the Mau mau spread as far away as the streets of New York where at least one notoriously violent street gang called itself the Mau Mau. But back home it was ineffective in winning independence for Kenya. The Mau mau uprising reached its’ height in 1952 and was quickly crashed. Mainly because it was about one tribe’s fight for their land rights. Actually the Kikuyu were joined by other neighboring tribes like the Merus. The leader of the Mau mau, a man called Dedan Kimathi was executed at Kamiti prison on February 18th 1957. By that time the Kikuyu uprising had been well and truly crashed.

The statistics of the Mau mau struggle tell an even more interesting story. The Mau Mau rebels killed over two thousand African Kenyan civilians, but killed only 32 European settlers and fewer than 200 British soldiers during the 8 years of the uprising. The British in turn killed 20,000 Mau Mau rebels in combat, hanged over 1000 suspected Mau Mau supporters, and interned more than 70,000 Kikuyu civilians for years in brutal detention camps on suspicion of providing material support for the uprising. Actually some researchers say that the true number of Kikuyus who were held or detained during that period was closer to one million. Read more details on this HERE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedan_Kimathi.

The man who was to later become Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta always had a frosty relationship with the Mau mau. They threatened his life several times and then he ended up on trial trying to prove to a compromised court his innocence and the fact that he had no links with Mau mau. The chief witness in that sham of a trial Rawson Macharia admitted only in recent years that he had given false evidence against Kenyatta. In all likelihood Kenyatta was not a violent man at heart and did not believe in violent means and yet when he became president he worked hard to glorify the Mau mau as the chief freedom fighters of Kenya and always emphasized that independence was won with a violent resistance. We shall understand later what his motivation for this may have been.

But for now it is important to appreciate the circumstances under which Jomo Kenyatta ended up as the first president of Kenya. This is important because to date every single man who has ended up as president of Kenya has done so as a compromise candidate. We wait to see what will happen in 2012 but in all likelihood history will duplicate itself once again.

In the run up to independence Jomo Kenyatta was rotting away in detention without a hope of ever getting back to politics. The white settlers government officials swore in public that that would never happen. The two front runners for president were Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who firmly believed that he should be president by virtue of his age over the other front runner Tom Mboya who was barely in his twenties. Sensing defeat, Odinga decided to fix his main opponent politically by demanding the release of the forgotten Jomo Kenyatta. That decision set in motion a chain of events that handed over the presidency on a silver platter to Kenyatta. Indeed when he was receiving the instruments of power on June 1963, Kenyatta still looked dazed and unbelieving. Like he wanted to pinch himself to convince himself that all these wonderful things were suddenly happening to him after years of struggle and very hard times which had been set off by false accusations against him in 1952 that put him in jail. Kenyatta’s words on that day perfectly capture the mood and his personal feelings. He did not start by saying that it was a great day for Kenyans. Instead he said; “Today is the happiest day of my life.”

I have closely studied the first years of the Kenyatta administration and read many accounts and watched many clips. All of them paint only one picture. That there was a mood of constant celebration in the corridors of power in those early months. More like the ancient court of Kings where every day was a day of celebration and entertainment, unless of course there was a problem. Kenyatta loved traditional dances and alcoholic drinks flowed freely from the State House bar to the kitchen cabinet and their regular visitors. Kenyatta loved to trade stories with his brother-in-law Mbiyu Koinange (brother to his first wife Grace Wahu) about the good old days when they were younger.

Evidence suggests that Kenyatta entered office with high ideals and a genuine determination to make good. But the honey moon was quickly and rudely brought to an end as crisis after crisis hit the infant administration. There was the scary army mutiny at Lanet in 1964 just a few months into the Kenyatta administration. There were numerous coups in other African countries most notably Nigeria. Closer to home there was the extremely bloody coup and revolution in neighbouring Zanzibar.

It soon became very clear that there were plenty of threats to the presidency which had to be addressed immediately. Kenyatta started by appointing close relatives and village mates to sensitive positions in the security forces. Later after the assassination of Tom Mboya the Kenyatta administration launched secret oath-taking amongst those same senior officials in the security forces.

Then the threat that all three men have faced early in their presidency also quickly emerged for Kenyatta. The dominant economic force at independence was the small group of white settlers who had chosen to stay. The president’s close advisors correctly identified this small group as a potential threat to the presidency. In such a poor country as Kenya, money can do a lot of damage in any political cause. These settlers were the financiers of KADU which was the main political opposition to Jomo Kenyatta’s KANU. These settlers had never really trusted Jomo Kenyatta and it would only be natural for them to jump at the first chance at a change of guard.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Kenyatta’s early years in State house were chiefly occupied with neutralizing these threats. We shall now see exactly how that was done, sometimes pretty ruthlessly.

To be continued: In the next post; Was Kenyatta capable of siring children after detention?

Get a Free copy of almost the entire book Dark Secrets of the Kenyan Presidency

Part 1

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Deadly political games

I can confirm to my readers that the following two incidences in political posturing have actually taken place in the very recent past.

Evictees from the Mau were never forcibly evicted in an inhuman way as William Ruto wants Kenyans to believe. Actually as the deadline to leave was approaching people were carefully instructed to leave the Mau and camp not too far off by the roadsides. The rains were pouring at the time and it was expected that they would continue for a while further heightening the misery of those who had been forced to leave the Mau and creating an uproar with the public. It was all a very carefully orchestrated thing and I can authoritatively report that cash was used to create this situation purely for political gain. What went slightly wrong was that the rains suddenly stopped and of course William Ruto had underestimated the intelligence of the Kenyan public and their ability to grasp the real issues concerning the Mau. Still Ruto achieved his objective of causing the Prime Minister to be extremely unpopular amongst the Kalenjin community and in effect to drive home the final nail in the ODM coffin. Despite what the PM and ODM high command are saying, the honeymoon is definitely over and ODM has been reduced to a shell of its’ previous self. A Luo party with pockets of small support from a few other places. Bottom line ODM is no longer the formidable national political movement it was in the run up to the 2007 elections.

Second scenario; The so-called show-of-strength-ODM meeting in Mombasa was actually a very well stage-managed affair with people being ferried mainly from different parts of the Coast province to attend the Raila rally. Organizers were very careful to downplay the huge Luo population at the Coast who are naturally diehard ODM supporters. Raila’s pointman and chief financier and organizer in all this, one Ali Hassan Joho legislator for Kisauni, Mombasa. The whole idea was to show the press that the party still has widespread support from all over the country. But does it? An interesting question I want to ask and answer. What motivated Mr Joho to spend millions of his own cash on a ship that everybody knows is sinking? The only plausible answer is that he wants to rapidly enhance his own national political profile with the 2012 general elections firmly in mind. This man wants to be the man to do business with for any presidential candidate who wants the Coast vote. That presidential candidate he does business with, winning is not important. This is an extremely lucrative business all on its’ own without the political intricacies.

These two incidences should not surprise anybody who understands Kenyan politics where appearances are everything.

What Njenga Karume left out of his biography

Everybody has skeletons in their closets. Everybody!!! I am talking about those dark little secrets that one would never dare tell.

So to be fair to one Njenga Karume, it is a wonderful thing that he has made the brave (and rare in Africa) move to write a biography. There is no doubt that he has gotten an excellent ghostwriter and probably the best book editor that money can buy to bring out a very well written book. Perhaps the best written biography ever in these shores. Not bad for a man who hardly got any formal education to speak of.

What this man has done should be encouraged as much as possible amongst other Kenyans and indeed Africans across the continent.

Having said that, it is also worth noting that Njenga Karume is one of the most controversial Kenyans still around who has straddled the twin arenas of big business and big politics for a very long time indeed. The man knows a lot and I dare add has also done a lot, both good and bad.

Although he was not a member proper, of Kenyatta’s inner kitchen cabinet, Karume knows enough to shed much more light on some of Kenya’s big mysteries, like the murders of Tom Mboya and JM Kariuki. Not to mention the disappearance without trace of one Kungu Karumba. I am not surprised that he has steered clear of some of these very sensitive topics. After all some of the chief murderers who participated in these crimes are still very much alive. And besides even where they have passed on, those murders have helped retain the status quo and a system that has helped Mr Karume rake in billions over the years.

Still I have to admit that there were quite a number of shocks for me in the Karume book. For instance everybody knew that the man had access to President Jomo Kenyatta but I was surprised at the ease with which the man could just pick up the phone and talk or leave a message for a president who would disappear from the public for weeks on end and would regularly slip in and out of comas. Indeed Mr Karume’s honesty in many instances is very refreshing and will make this biography a hot seller for many years to come.

I went to school with one of Njenga Karume’s sons (he was a couple of years ahead of me) and one incident stands out in my mind that illustrated just how wealthy the man was especially in those days (early 80s). The younger Karume was pretty popular in school and everybody knew that it was his dad’s wealth and influence that had gotten him to the national school and not his academic prowess. But what he lacked in academics he more than made up for on the social scene. This chap would “borrow” his dad’s cars and paint the town red with his friends and girls from Kenya High School. One day he was involved in an accident that badly damaged the Mercedes Benz car he was using. The young lad was terrified of his dad and could not dare bring back the badly dented car and so it was towed away to some garage where the repair bill proved to be too high even for the crazy pocket money the young Karume used to receive. And so it was stuck there for quite some time. It took Njenga Karume months to realize that one of his personal cars was missing.

One of the things that has been left out of the Njenga Karume biography is his extremely dodgy beginning where it is said that some of the activities he got involved in in the early days to raise capital for his businesses was stealing car tyres.

Secondly although Karume’s ability to use his political contacts to profit hugely on the business front comes out very clearly in the book, one curious deal made possible by then Finance Minister Mwai Kibaki is missing from the book.

Mwai Kibaki leaked out a small part of his budget proposals a few days earlier which he knew would greatly profit Mr Karume. The price of beer was set to rise by 10 cents (roughly the equivalent of Kshs 2 today). I have to admit that there are many businessmen who would have gotten this same information and done very little if anything with it, but not Mr Karume. The man started working his phones and through his beer distribution business, placed a colossal and unprecedented order for beers. In those days he had a huge depot for storing the stuff so storage was not a problem. Naturally the huge order was being paid for at the “old prices” that is minus the 10 cents. Mr Karume then postponed making any deliveries for a day or two (another name for that is hoarding) until after the budget was read. The result was that he made a fortune from this insider trading transaction. Karume and Kibaki have remained friends for years except that brief moment prior to the 2002 presidential elections when Karume’s business empire faced some serious cash flow problems and he ditched Kibaki and the party he (Karume) himself had formed and financed to back Uhuru Kenyatta for the presidency. To his dismay he ended up with the losing horse but was quickly back in Mwai Kibaki’s fold shortly after Narc started crumbling. The two men have too many secrets they share to remain separated for long.

Read this previous Kumekucha article on a dirty deal that Njenga Karume executed.


Kumekucha Chris will be back this weekend with his controversial Weekend special. This time he digs into the dirty secrets of the presidency. Don't miss it. Cancel all your weekend dates stay away from the beaches if you must, at the very least make adjustments... he promises you will NOT regret it. This Saturday and Sunday only here in Kumekucha.

Draft Constitution: The Curse of Two Parties

One week to go and the discussion on the so-called harmonized (conflicting) draft constitution has refused to leave the station. The whole noble task of drafting a constitution for posterity has been reduced to the never-ending PNU-ODM political wars.

You can never built anything sustainable premised on FEAR. Chapter 12 of the draft on executive has proved to the most contentious. Each political side is determined to have her cake and est it. Unfortunately, the truth is that none of the parties is right on either the presidential or parliamentary system of governance.

While Moi frustrated the search for a new constitution for selfish reasons to consolidate his powers, the present political leadership are no better. No wonder the key players inadvertently let it out that the struggle was not to make Kenya better but to remove Moi and inherit his powers. Meanwhile Kenyans remain stuck in the middle suffocating from impunity.

The whole country is held hostage by the political class. Despite being overtly political, the average Kenyan will fall to the gimmicks of these scoundrels and miss yet another opportunity to re-invent Kenya.

Only a third neutral force devoid of the present brinkmanship can make us realize the dream of a new constitution. And there promptly comes the question, who will offer this selfless leadership. There must be such a Kenyan out there, who is s/he, ANYONE?

Reforms: More Visa Bans Coming Soon

While Amos Wako re-invents his poisonous smile smarting from the US visa ban, more politicians are lined up for the next round of ban. And the present grandstanding and brinkmanship on the draft constitution won't have been godsend. Forget the empty abroad-is-not-heaven chorus. The bans hits the mighty hard where it hurts most.

Calling learned politicians ignorant may sound disrespectful but what else can you term a bunch of people whose vision never extends past the present leadership? Add to that the obnoxious obsession with TRIBE and you get a recipe to make a superb idiot.

But these leaders are not alone. The have good company in equally-schooled Kenyans who mouth superlatives with no intention of walking the talk. Hypocrisy must be our collective forte. Look no further than the predictable propensity to chest thumb while supporting political turf wars at the expense of weighty national issues.

Kenyans appear to have been weaned on LEADERLESSNESS so mush so that any trace of tough decision is fast reduced into cheap grandstanding and partisan warfare. In the meantime nothing moves and Kenya remains the worst for it all.

No wonder the so-called international community have refused to buy into our national lies. Annan and co will never leave us stew in our own blood again and the EU and US visa bans are coming soon and furious.

The Curse of A+O+O: Rain Isn't From Forests

Hail the king and his sidekick for true triumph. Fighting him is akin to cutting fig tree with a razor blade.

The last laugh is surely the longest, loudest and sweetest. Don't spoil the party with all those stale draft constitution debate. Forget about LEADERSHIP, politics is all about triumph here and now. And the winner is........................(NOT KENYANS).

So in appreciation let us all expose our post-molars please and applaud the brave worriors of democracy. One, two, three ............

The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 4

What does the future hold?

Now we have to wrap this up quickly because the weekend is over already.

We have said a lot of things about our Luo brothers. Many of the things I have taken courage to speak about, nobody has dared to utter in public before. The whole intention was for us to understand this community that I love so much better. When you understand something and especially its’ past, the future becomes clearer.

Why don’ we go back to that entertainment spot in Kisumu city before I summarize the political future of the Luo community?

The man seated next to me on the table was alone. I noticed that he had greeted several ladies and one had even stopped by at his table for a brief chat. Clearly he preferred his own company. But still it was easy to start chatting to him and I found that I could pop the question I had in mind much quicker than I had earlier anticipated.

“Do you think Raila Odinga has a political future?” I asked.

“I thought that was pretty obvious. This has to be the end for ODM and him,” he said after taking a long sip of his cold beer.

“Most people in this city will not agree with you.”

“I know. Let me tell you something. We Luos are very optimistic people. We will gladly look for possibilities in an impossible situation. The truth is that we do not have the discipline to plan and end up getting what we really want. You know I have just been transferred from Mombasa where I had two bosses a Kikuyu and a Luo. The Luo drove a big car and the Kikuyu drove one of those small Toyotas from Dubai. It even smoked and we used to laugh at him a lot from behind his back. There were many other differences. The Kikuyu man lived in Ganjoni in some dirty flats, and the Luo lived in up market Nyali. Now there was some restructuring recently and both of them lost their jobs. The Kikuyu stayed on and is doing very well with several plots in Mombasa and some small businesses. My fellow Luo is now in Nairobi and desperately looking for a job. One man was optimistic and did nothing to work towards his goals, the other was focused and didn’t care that people were laughing at him. Now look who is laughing? You see what I mean? Don’t get me wrong. Kikuyus have their weaknesses but the difference is that they have the discipline and we don’t. Pure and simple.”

I could not believe what I was hearing from this man and promised myself that his words would make it to my post (which they have).

So lets warp this up by looking into the future. In my humble view I think all indications are pointing towards the following future for the Luo community in Kenyan politics.

Firstly, like it or not, they will remain an important political influence in Kenya but will sadly continue to suffer from bad decisions made by leaders that the community follows blindly. The really sad thing here is that in my view our Luo brothers and sisters are amongst the most brilliant Kenyans. I know one or two specialist surgeons now based in the USA who are known the world over and hail from Kenya and the Luo community. (Interestingly the Luo always seem to do very well as far away from home as possible.)

The biggest weakness in the Luo community is the tendency for many of their leaders to make reckless decisions on the spur of the moment based on emotions more than anything else. You can be reckless but think things through. Sadly these leaders hardly ever think things through and it is not for lack of intellect. We have seen this in the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and more recently in Raila Odinga. Future Luo leaders will do well to make a huge effort to ignore their emotions and work towards being more calm, cold and calculating if they are to make major breakthroughs in politics.

It is important that the Odinga spell which has stradled and suffocated the community for so long, is broken. Many of my Luo friends agree that as difficult as this may seem, it is the only way forward for this community that possesses just too much untapped potential.

Sadly all indications at the moment are that in 2007 the community will find itself irrelevant and spectators in the unfolding of the new political order and the emergence of the third and last liberation. The only way that they will remain in the centre of things is if Raila Odinga survives to win the presidency. This is very unlikely and if you asked me to be blunt, out of question.

In my personal view Kenya will be fully healed the day a son of Luo Nyanza is elected to the presidency with votes from a large cross section of the country. For now it seems like a distant pipe dream but personally I see it happening much sooner than most people think. Possibly in the next 20 years or so. My hope hinges on an emerging new generation who are determined to make a clean break with the past.

A good beginning for the healing of Kenya is for the other Kenyan brothers across the country from the 41 other tribes to realize the great injustices that have been committed against these Kenyans and to publicly apologize to the community for them and open a new chapter.

Good job Chris my brother. You have had a long love affair with the Luo, you should have been one. But your work is all vanity. In the final analysis you lie, the Luo are beyond redemption.

I hope I have provided at least some answers to the big Luo political puzzle which you must have realized by now is a mystery that can hardly be solved by a few controversial posts one slow weekend.

As I pen off, let me take this opportunity to thank all you wonderful guys out there who kept me company through this weekend. I saw you all in my blog site stats right up to the long minutes you spent here and the links you clicked through to. I hope this was as enjoyable and enlightening for you as it was for me.


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 3

Magical powers?

Sometime in 1969 Jomo Kenyatta was settling in for a sumptuous lunch at the PCs house in Kakamega (Western Kenya). One police officer based in the town at the time who had to coordinate the president’s security on this particular day was extremely surprised when the president rose to leave just 5 minutes later. He had hardly touched his soup (which was the first of several courses). The president was leaving for Kisumu in what would be his last trip to that town even though he would continue to president of those who lived there along with the rest of Kenya for another 9 years.

Jaramogi, Kenyatta and Mboya shortly before independence.

That police officer (now long retired) still remembers the events of that day as if it was yesterday and as he hurried to get into one of the police cars to escort the president to the border of Kakamega and Kisumu, he was worried. It was obvious that the president was in a very bad mood. Constitutionally all who work for the government work “at the pleasure of the president.” In simple terms what this means is that a president in a bad mood could simply not like your face and decide that it no longer pleased him for you to serve the government of Kenya. (President Moi once sacked a police officer by telephoning the Police commissioner while he was about 2 hours away from Nakuru and saying: Sitaki kuona hio nyagau nikifika Nakuru roughy translated it means; I don’t want to see that animal when I arrive in Nakuru.)

The cars left without any incident and as the officer handed over he felt a great sense of relief and at the same time dread for his colleagues serving in Kisumu who had the daunting task of taking care of the president in very hostile territory.

Every Kenyan who cared to read newspapers at the time knew that there was a lot of tension in the country after Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga had resigned in a huff to form his own political party called Kenya People’s Union. The assassination of Tom Mboya earlier that year in July had made things worse and one wondered what the president expected going through Kisumu and Luo Nyanza in his motorcade.

The fears of that policeman had on that fateful day were not unfounded. A few hours later dozens of innocent people lay dead their bodies strewn all over the place. To this day the exact number of people who died on that day is still a closely guarded government secret.

Details are scanty as to what exactly happened on that sunny afternoon of late 1969. According to my source who was on the ground on that day, on arriving in Kisumu Kenyatta and his aides were confronted by a very angry Oginga Odinga who had some angry words for Jomo. Wikipedia actually says that the two hurled abuses at each other. An interesting photo that I had hoped to publish here today but did not find on time, shows Oginga talking angrily to a calm Kenyatta who was surrounded by his aides who appeared to be carefully listening to Odinga senior.

There was a chaotic public meeting after that where President Kenyatta dwelt on insulting Oginga Odinga and the Luo community. At one point he said that the Luo were lazy and could not cultivate land like others and instead just wanted free hand outs. Fascinatingly as Kenyatta made his speech, Oginga who was seated not too far was replying to his accusations and sometime the microphone Kenyatta was using picked some of Odinga’s words. The other highlight of Kenyatta’s abusive speech was when he said in Swahili that his government would crush Odinga and his followers until they were “powder”. Don’t say I didn’t warn you he said to Odinga.

All through the meeting there were shouts of Ndume which means “bull” and was the slogan for the then recently registered Oginga political party called Kenya People’s Union (KPU).

What happened next is not clear. However impeccable sources from a member of the security forces present on that day insist that the following happened;

The crowd had been very hostile throughout the entire proceedings and the presidential guards were extremely nervous. Suddenly a chair was hurled from the crowd in the direction of Jomo Kenyatta. It was a harmless missile because one of the guards easily caught it in mid air before it could hit Kenyatta. It was then that an order was issued for the guards to open fire.

Time magazine reported in their issue later that week that at least 9 people were killed and 70 wounded (read the full TIME article). My source says that they counted no less than 50 bodies of women children toddlers and men as well.

In retrospect the problem that day was more of a personal issue between Jomo Kenyatta and Oginga Odinga. Some would say a clash of political ideologies. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Luo people and Odinga senior should NOT have dragged his people into his spat with Kenyatta and the government. It is instructive to note that these were the early beginnings of politicians using tribal politics to enhance their personal interests and political ambitions. Odinga sold the idea to his people that the government of Kenyatta was finishing Luos.

Admittedly what also raised the tensions very high was the move by the Kenyatta administration shortly after the assassination of Mboya to resume Mau mau oath taking only this time those taking the oath swore their allegiance to Jomo Kenyatta. All this was coupled with the fact that the man convicted of firing the fatal revolver shots that had slain Mboya one Nahashon Njenga, was a Kikuyu. And so it was easy to sell the idea to the Luo community that the Kikuyus were “finishing them.”

Kenyatta toured many parts of the country until his death, but never Kisumu again. KPU was banned for “attempting to overthrow the lawful and constitutional government of the Republic of Kenya.” All 8 of it’s MPs as well as Oginga Odinga himself were picked up two days later by the dreaded Special branch police and detained without trial.

This is how the deep hatred between the Luo and Kikuyu communities was launched. By the sad and chaotic events of that day in Kisumu. The Kenyatta government went on to actively encourage and promote the stereotype views many Kikuyus still have concerning Luos to this day. This includes the view that Luos are cowardly boys at best because their culture does not allow for circumcision. Of course the fact that the Luo rite of passage for men of having 6 of their front teeth literally knocked out was much more painful than circumcision was totally ignored. And besides the Luo may be many things but they are certainly NOT cowards.

It is no secret that the Luo have always been led by leaders with magical powers. Right through the days of heroes like Luanda Magere. In fact Wikipedia the online encyclopedia says of Jaramogi;

His (Oginga odinga) efforts earned him admiration and recognition among the Luo, who revered him as Ker (spiritual leader) – a position previously held by the fabled ancestral Luo chief, Ramogi Ajwang, who reigned 400 years before him. Vowing to uphold the ideals of Ramogi Ajwang, Odinga became known as Jaramogi (meaning son of Ramogi).

During Oginga Odinga’s long years away from politics, the Luo believe that he was protected and kept alive only by his magical powers. One particular incident during the Moi era stands out. Wary of Jaramogi’s increasing political activities at the time in backing opposition to Moi’s government by insisting on the repel of the famous section 2 (a) of the constitution which made Kenya a dejure one party state, government agents embarked on a mission to plant guns on Odinga’s farm in Nyanza. The idea was f0r the guns to be later “discovered” and used as “evidence” that Oginga was planning an “armed rebellion” against the “democratically elected government of Kenya.” The mission was done in the dead of the night but the Luo believe that Oginga Odinga’s magical powers enabled him “to see” what was being planned. He is said to have woken up and confronted the government agents by simply asking them what they thought they were doing.

These magical powers it is believed were passed on to Jaramogi’s son, Raila Odinga. Indeed this belief spread to many other communities countrywide who voted for Raila in 2007. In late 2007 I met a Giriama man in Mombasa when I was doing one of my many political surveys on the ground. He told me that he would vote for Odinga because he admired his magical powers which are the only thing that had kept him alive and enabled him to escape assassination when it was clear that he would win the presidency from Mwai Kibaki.

The controversial truth is that to this day many of our Luo brothers believe that it is impossible for Raila to be felled in politics. Reading some of the comments in this blog that display of only blind faith and no substance in support of the Prime Minister, is easy to detect.

Back at the entertainment spot in Kisumu, I ignored the dashing smile from the stunner and decided to pick a conversation with a man seated next to me on the table who I had been observing for sometime. I wanted to ask him what he though about Raila’s political future. To be honest I was not prepared for what he was going to tell me. It shocked me a great deal knowing what I already knew.

Why were you shocked at the honesty of that man, Chris. We Luo people are brutally honest when you catch us at an unguarded moment or when we are in a good mood. But it means nothing, we never walk our talk.


...To be continued. Don’t miss the fourth and final part of this riveting series

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 2

A weakness for women?

I can’t remember the last time a woman tried to pick me up but then the world seems to have changed a lot and the hunted I am told have become full fledged hunters. Besides this one was a great looker as I said earlier and the way she carried herself she seemed fully aware of the fact. Still I found it difficult to believe that she was not a prostitute.

Right then I realized that there are a lot of similarities between the Kamba (the tribe my father hails from. My mother was Bukusu Luhya) and the Luos. One of those similarities is that both tribes are rather promiscuous. If Kamba men and women are referred to as the legendary sex athletes in bed then it can be said of Luo men that they never saw a voluminous behind of a woman that they did not want to gawk and “salivate” at and Luo women never saw a strong good looking man and did not want to sample right away. Stereotypes of course but fairly common.

Why lie Chris, I have always told you that when it comes to sex the Luo are in a class of their own. You Kambas should just accept second spot roho safi. In the days before I met Jesus I would pick a prostitute in the CBD and walk with her all the way to my hall at the Nairobi University with a hard on. I think back and am shocked at myself and what I was capable of. What sexual anointing I had in those days. It was obviously from My Luo ancestry.

Many people don’t know it but during the Moi administration there are many instances where the then president tamed Luo political allies and perceived political threats hailing from the tribe using women. To Moi a seductress was always more effective when dealing with the Luo than just cash only.

Even legend seems to support this widely held view. The story is told of how the Nandi finally defeated the legendary Luo leader Luanda Magere using a weakness that they saw in the Luo early. It is said that Luanda Magere was a very tough warrior who possessed magical powers so that a spear or knife could not penetrate his skin. Because of this, long before the colonialists arrived, the Luo were easily able to subdue the Nandi using their great warrior. The crafty Nandi however called for a truce and held a beauty contest to choose the most beautiful young Kalenjin girl who was given to the great Luo warrior and leader as a gift to cement the peace between the two communities. Luanda was delighted at this “gift” because it is said that the young Kalenjin girl was a real stunner. And like most present day Luos who are said to have a “weakness” where women are concerned, he saw no danger at all in having a wife from the fold of his enemies.

Peace reigned between the two communities for sometime until one day the great warrior got sick and he gave instructions to his youngest wife as to what needed to be done. It involved cutting his shadow with a razor to draw blood, which she did and Luanda recovered. Shortly after that incident she asked her husband for permission to visit her parents which she had no problem obtaining being such a dazzling beauty who charmed the fierce warrior immensely. She was sent with many gifts and on arriving in Nandi country, narrated what had happened when her Luo husband, Magere had fallen sick. The Nandi promptly declared war on the Luo and somebody simply speared the shadow of Luanda Magere, killing him instantly and winning the battle for the Nandi.

Many stories have been told about prominent Luo politicians and the mipango za kando (mistresses) that they have had. Tom Mboya was a notorious lady’s man. Robert Ouko the slain former minister of foreign affairs at the time of his death had a mistress and this fascinating fact came through during the commission of enquiry into his death. But the really fascinating thing here was how some policeman were so determined to sell the suicide theory trying to convince intelligent Kenyans that Ouko may have committed suicide because he had Aids from his mistress. Then of course there are many fascinating tales (some truth others pure fiction) about the escapades of both Odinga senior and Raila.

My apologies folks, that smiling Luo beauty made me digress a little but then this a weekend is it not? But back to serious business now.

It is widely known that the Luo migrated into East Africa from a place in Sudan called Bahr-el-Ghazal. But few talk of where they arrived from when they settled in Bahr-el-Ghazal. My research shows that they actually originated from far in the Western part of Africa in present day Nigeria. There are also unconfirmed reports that give some very fascinating information to the effect that the reason the early Luos left Nigeria was because of a very serious quarrel between two brothers, Uthieno and Gillo. Gillo was killed in the ensuing fight between the brothers. It is said that Uthieno killed him in a jealous rage. Uthieno is the father of modern day Luos in East Africa.

This web site seems to confirm some of these facts although the version here is a little different at one point 3 brothers are mentioned. The general facts are however similar in many ways. This murder theory about Uthieno is just the thing the conspiracy theorists need and true to form one told me that when you murder a person a curse falls on your children’s children and can be carried for many generations. In other words it never ends. This could neatly explain all the tragedy’s misfortunes and raw deal in Kenyan politics. But then most Kumekucha readers don’t believe in such mumbo jumbo.

…To be continued. One of the issues I will discuss in my next post is the magical powers of all Luo leaders.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The great Luo political Kitendawili Part 1

Kitendawili is the Swahili word for puzzle. Indeed the most prominent Luo political personality currently, Prime Minister Raila Odinga loves to use these Swahili puzzles to get his points across at public rallies.

But political analysts are agonizing over what I will call the Luo puzzle.

Consider the following.

No other Kenyan community has gotten so close to the presidency and still come up short. In the run up to independence the two front runners to be the first president of Kenya were both Luos. Namely Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. If it was another community the two would have sat together and sewn up the deal easily. Instead a vicious struggle between the two ensued that handed over the presidency to another community and Jomo Kenyatta. But all was not lost. Oginga Odinga was appointed the Vice President and Kenyatta was rapidly aging. All he had to do was to sit tight for a few years and he would have easily become president after all Daniel arap Moi did it after him. If there were any slip ups then the young flamboyant Mboya (who was already being hailed by the Western media as a President in waiting) would have taken over. Again the community blew it. Oginga ended up in political oblivion and Mboya died shortly after finishing Oginga politically. Then came 1982 and finally the community had one of it’s own at the helm of power, albeit for about 30 minutes. Some insist the coup of August 1st caused senior private Hezekiah Ochuka to be president of Kenya but for brief chaotic 30 minutes. It is worth noting that many (including this blogger) are convinced that such a junior officer of the air force would have been incapable of acting on his own and there were other bigger names behind him. There is of course the still unique case of one Master sergeant Samuel Doe of Liberia who carried out a successful coup in the 80s and ruled that troubled country for some years.

Then came the most astounding and astonishing event yet in the history of the Luo community and the presidency. In the 2007 presidential race, Raila Odinga won the presidency by a landslide (according to Kumekucha estimates). The elections were stolen and the worst that should have happened is that Mr Odinga would have remained out of government and waited for the next elections. Instead a power sharing arrangement (where the winner received bread crumbs in terms of power from the loser of those elections) was mooted to keep peace in the country. As you read this the writing is clearly on the wall for Raila’s political future and whatever the ODM diehards say, it will be easier for a hungry Tana crocodile to ignore the soft supple flesh of a child bathing at the shores and swim away than it will be for Mr Raila Odinga to ever live in State House as the president of Kenya.

What the hell is wrong?

I once heard this long shot theory of how the community has been cursed never to rise to the presidency. But that particular theory was blown sky high when the son of a Kenyan Luo, Barack Hussein Obama rose to the presidency of the most powerful nation on earth. Or was it? (I will discuss this very controversial point in more detail later on this weekend).

And so that is the big Luo political kitendawili.

I have had the privilege of getting to know the Luo very well. Ironically I was born in Kisumu (now Kisumu City) and over the years fate has kept me close to the community and that interesting city by some amazing twists including the fact that the best friend I ever had (the late G) was a Luo. And so I am in a unique position to talk about the community from a neutral point of view. Indeed from this point I will punctuate my prose with bold comments of what good old G would have said to some of the most controversial statements I will make here. Rest in peace my dear brother.

Chris, you are one melodramatic Kenyan. Now you want to elevate me to saintly status. Vanity my friend, you know my views on that, there is only one who can be worshiped. Secondly you have brains. The Luo will skin you alive for what you want to do here, we like to keep some truths unspoken.

I sat at this Luo entertainment spot in Kisumu and listened to the sad beat of popular Tony Nyadundo. The dance floor was packed with gyrating revelers many of them sweating profusely and with their eyes closed. It was as if they were hungrily drinking in the sadness. Enjoying it and all the tragedy and bad luck that has befallen this community. A friend recently said of the community “they always seem to have this great sadness hanging over them.”

I will be lying if I say I was not enjoy the Tony Nyadundo music and the sadness with them, although I was not on the dance floor yet. I was still seated reflecting on this humid city that has always appeared from the blue at very critical points of my life. My parents were traveling when they had to hurriedly stop over in Kisumu for me to be born. I met my wife of 20 years in Kisumu about 20 years later. Then when I was down and out and a hopeless alcoholic I met G (who called Kisumu his home town). And now at a critical point of Kenya’s political history, I am taking my readers back to this place. This place where I hope to pick the answers they wait for to help them solve the big Luo political puzzle.

But my thoughts are interrupted by a great looking young girl who passes my table and flashes a big smile at me whose meaning is obvious.

…To be continued later today.


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4