"If you want to rattle a snake you must be prepared to be bitten by it..."
"Anybody who loves the Kikuyus must follow Uhuru Kenyatta."
-John Michuki-
Why do people suddenly become saints when they die? Why is it that suddenly they become close friends of everybody and appear to have had no enemies?
In my view the best way to honour the dead is to tell the truth. Highlight the bad about them even as you point out the good so that those of us who are left behind can learn something from the dead man's life. When you insist on telling lies and sanitizing their lives for burial, we learn very little or nothing.
Facts:
Negative
* Like most of the richest Kenyans he made his money using public office, most notably as executive chairman of KCB.
* He said in front of witnesses that Kenya would only get a Luo president over his dead body.
* He was one of the key figures who participated in the ghastly Standard newspapers raid. (Read this amazing inside story).
* Ordered the police to shoot to kill and was involved in the killing (cold blooded murder) of many many suspected Mungiki members.
* He ordered several hits as de facto minister in charge of internal security.
Facts:
Positive
*Michuki rules tamed Matatus and brought them into the tax system for the very first time. His rules saved many precious Kenyan lives. When he was replaced by another minister the industry slid back to chaos.
* He always spoke his mind. e.g. he made it clear that he disliked "Jaruos."
* He loved his country... as long as a Kikuyu was at the helm.
* He played a major role in cleaning up the Nairobi River.
I feel it in my bones that this post is akin to playing a guitar for a herd of goats because nobody will change Kenyans. They will never speak evil about the dead. NEVER!! If Hitler had died in Kenya he would be a hero today. Very odd but it probably stems from our ancestors who believed that dead people become gods and have power over us and can intervene on our behalf up there. What rubbish!!!!
Chris,
ReplyDeleteTruth 1.
Do you know some people believe your dad who died recently was a womanizer, a moron, lazy and an imbecile that only bred wimps?
Truth 2.
To you chris and your family, he was the greatest man that ever lived and you have showered praises on him endlessly in Kumekucha. You choose to overlook his weaknesses and focus on the good that he did.
Reality: Those who rejoiced at the demise of your dad can find solid reasons to justify their joy. Chris you can also categorically state why you adore your dad with real incidences.
But because we are civilized, the former fellows will not shout from the rooftops demonizing your dad even before he rests in his grave. This is exactly what you are doing chris. Michuki was first a father, husband, and a brother to people with hearts and emotions. You can continue your marathon sadistic posts like you did after confirmation of ICC cases but your credibility as a balanced person worth paying attention to is undergoing an avalanche.
Concerned
Fellow Kenyans,
ReplyDeleteThe truth is whether dead or alive we still remain our own worst enemies. When the dead are alive we never praise or criticize them in whatever measures they deserve. Therefore the truth is the late Michuki was nothing more than a leader we deserved.
We have set the bar so low that it takes very little effort to meet our expectations as Kenyans. Separate the man from the Public Servant and you will find he was simply an ordinary fellow with one or 2 highlights nothing major. However you will find he was a good man to his wife, children etc and no one can dispute that
Its up to us as Kenyans to raise the standards and set the bar high where leadership is concerned. Why for example should our media prominently highlight the foolish utterances of our leaders during the so called prayer rallies they are holding all over the country? is this what we want to see or once again have we lost all sense of decent and normal expectations for what direction our country should take.
Change the Kenyan Citizen and you will Change the Leadership. Until then RIP Kimendeero and may all the other thieves, murders and conmen in parliament live long
Chris, you are damn right about Michuki:
ReplyDelete* He loved his country... as long as a Kikuyu was at the helm.
* He "made" his money using public office, most notably as executive chairman of KCB. All this nonsense we're being told about him being "hard working," "industrious," "enterprising" and an "achiever" is pure bullcrap.
* He said in front of witnesses that Kenya would only get a Luo president over his dead body. How foolishly tribal can one get?
* He was one of the key figures who participated in the ghastly Standard newspapers raid with the Artur thugs. He even made the thugs assistant commissioners of the Kenyan police!!
* Ordered the police to shoot to kill and was involved in the killing (cold blooded murder) of many many suspected Mungiki members.
Chris, I say once again that you are damn right. It's about time we Kenyans stop living "national lies"
@Concerned-3:23 AM
ReplyDeleteSeems as if the post has touched a raw nerve to the painful point where it has become an issue of expansivity in defense of the late great-grandfather, grandfather, father, uncle, cultural hero, role model, regional icon, and a diehard home guard to a certain segment of the population?
By the way, my condolences to you and yours, that's if you happen to share the same DNA with the deceased in any way, shape or form, or are related through marriage relations twice of four times removed, and extended political circles.
Or belong to the same old political camp of people who still strongly oppose Kenya ever being (ru)led by a man or woman from any one of the fouty-one communities of Kenya.
Or worse, if you are among those individuals who still strongly continue to support and openly engage in ethnic chauvinism in spite of a strong healthy opposition from within your own backyard, political camp, and age group.
Life must goes on!
I am one of those forever silent Kumekucha readers. But this time I have been stung to leave a comment. Don't care if they can trace my ip address.
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris for always telling us the truth no matter how terrible.
You have just reminded me that my late mother(land) was a prostitute and my dad was a thief and murderer. That all the honour and bull**** was a facade. It hurts like hell because I have the same dna and I loved em. Always have.
BUT thank you for the truth.
Thank you for confirming once again that I can come to Kumekucha and read the unpalatable truth, stuff that I cannot possibly find anywhere else.
And Chris you have this knack of being right 90 per cent of the time. Maybe 95% of the time since I discovered this blog in 2006.
There is really no other site like Kumekucha. No other blogger like Kumekucha Chris.
Kudos bro.
P.S. Watch your back bro. Kioko of BC is a code name for some propaganda chaps in the intelligence community. I know you understand. Ask yourself the question; why have they come back now? You often say in your posts timing is everything.
I know you are intelligent. You need to figure out why the abusive tribal comments that drive away your sober readers...
Stay safe my brother.
It's me again
ReplyDeleteRaw nerve is the understatement of the decade. Chris you are stepping on high voltage wires my brother.
Any leader who thinks that the only time he can lead is when he has got rid of his opponent, that person will never lead. Because goD will not allow. It's evil to rejoice when others are in problems. - John Michuki.
ReplyDeleteIt's not my intention to cause public outrage or offence to those concerned by stating that those words were uttered by a person who was either really oblivious to Kenya's political history, or was part and parcel to the political machinery that has devastated the country in the last forty somethings years.
One of the many reasons why many in our midst wish that the speaker or owner of the afore mentioned statement had been couragious and honest enough to utter the very same words when prominent Kenyan political figures like J.M. Kariuki, among others, were being gunned down or eliminated at one point or another by the powers that be.
It's really evil to remain silent (rejoice as it were) when there is a lot of political, ethnic, economic, social evil and injustice taking place all over round you and throughout the country.
Evil is evil, and that's why we should not have to wait to meet our Maker in order to be informed of or confronted by the obvious facts about the evil that exists in our midst while we are still well and alive.
On the other hand, let's also be very wary of the other deadly versions of John Michuki in the ODM's camp as well as in the other major communities of Kenya.
"If you want to rattle a snake you must be prepared to be bitten by it..."
ReplyDeleteIn the same token, if you think that you will always live forever, then you must not be shocked, angered or frustrated when Mother Nature's cousin, Ms. E. P. Death*, comes calling at your door steps, towns and in the villages near you with the sole purpose of taking care of business, such as the timely removal of mortals who have been granted the five or more decades to improve themselves, regions, country and the world.
"Always leave the earth better than you found it." - Rupert Stephens.
* Ms. Ever Present Death.
Kwani what happened to Michuki?
ReplyDeleteCondolences to his family but now that the guy is now fresh worm-food, we should just forget him.
ReplyDeleteMichuki rules? Yeah, but he seriously stole from us before he became the "nice guy" and in any case, the rules really didn't achieve much (except increasing TKK for the cops). Weren't there rumors that his offspring profited handsomely from the importation of seat-belts, seat-belts which were to 99% practically useless?
Chris please investigate.
ReplyDeleteAm told Michuki may have been murdered to prevent Ocampo getting to him. He knew too much.
How come he got sick again just after arriving home from treatment in the UK?
Mzee Njoroge Michuki's death should not come as shock nor be received in disbelief because that's what happens very so often to men and women who have been lucky enough to celebrate their seventieth, seventy-fifth and eightieth birthdays.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact his life should be celebrated rather than mourned by those concerned and the public in general.
In the same way the lives of his former agemates, friends, colleagues, and fellow regional 'patriots' have been celebrated in the last twenty years - 1992-2012.
They were people who are survived by their great-grandchildren who happen to be in their late teens, some have just completed high school, while others are already in college or flying fighter jets at the age of ninteen and twenty.
All we can do is celebrate the man's life and let his immediate family mourn him in private for while before joining the interested public for the official celebration of his public life well lived since the 1930s.
There is no doubt about it that Mzee Njoroge Michuki is headed to a final destination where all of us will soon be heading at one point or another in the course of our temporary earthly lives.
The man, Njoroge Michuki, has just followed in the footsteps of 1000s of his peers and one time neighbours who have "passed away, slept forever, crossed over, 'gone-on-ahead' or kicked the bucket ('cracked the calabash')" in the last sixty years.
His was a fully lived life as he may have wanted it, so to speak, and as a matter of fact, he was very lucky enough to have lived to celebrate his eightieth birthday in grand style.
On the other hand, a one time former village mate, classmate in primary school and college (name withheld) is still well and alive, and lives in Nantes, France with his several children, grand children and great-granchildren.
Anyway, as Mzee Njoroge Michuki ends one life and begins another, it's hard to tell how many of us will be lucky to live long enough to celebrate our sixtieth, seventieth or even eightieth birthdays while leading a very active public life as he did in the last sixty years.
Mzee Njoroge Michuki is one of those few people who literally died with their boots on at a such golden age.
I did not like the man due to very personal reasons dating back to my early primary school days at Murang'a primary school ('Fort Hall Primary') and of course the manner in which he dealt with my family (so-called 'outsiders') at the time.
However, may Mzee Njoroge Michuki rest in eternal peace as he gets ready to be welcomed by the Great Elder, who dwells on the shinning mountains, for he (Michuki) has a lot of catching up to do when he reunites with the rest of his rika as well as several generations of his ancestral lineage.
In the meantime, may we make several sounds of njingiri and raise an animated chorus rattle of kayamba in his memory.
Whether you like it or not Mzee Michuki lived his life the way he deemed fit , a life of purpose and achievement ....Can we say the same for you chris?
ReplyDeleteFranco & OK Jazz's Likambo Ya Ngai Na Papa is offered in memory of Mr. "Kali Kali" Michuki by former vanquished students from Sasumu Dam, Mukeo, Hill Side, Kahuho, Koinange, Kijiko, Koboro, Holyoak, Kiboika and Curiri. Students who once found themselves caught between two menacing police dogs and a very angry crowd of armed parents whose daughters had sneaked out of their homes to attend the infamous end-of-school party after final national exams. RIP.
ReplyDelete@Chris,
ReplyDeleteWhy the delinquent Artur Brothers of all people, when the Consolata missionaries who have been around for over a century can do a be better job as advocates and petitioners for Michuki's cause? Although, I doubt whether the introduction of Matatu seat belt laws in Kenya will qualify as a miraculous occurrence for the beatification of the late Michuki.
Intresting post, I am sure some of you may have info. on Michuki during the pre-independence era...
ReplyDeletePlease share if you can....
Over his dead body..., now a Jaruo can luri Kenya.
ReplyDeleteIf you rattle a snake, it will bite.
ReplyDeleteThis guy had two sides. It is really true the way you have potrayed him. But he will not go down in history as reformer.
He was an opportunist who was not ready to take risks.
MICHUKI UPHELD AND BROKE THE LAW IN EQUAL MEASURE
ReplyDelete...he was not so much a Kenyan patriot, but an ethnic chauvinist who by his actions and utterances signalled his belief that the same Kikuyu people he fought as a colonial functionary now had a divine right to rule Kenya or generally dominate the political and economic arena.
- Macharia Gaitho
The whole article: http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Michuki+upheld+and+broke+law+equally/-/440808/1332964/-/item/0/-/i4i3e7z/-/index.html
If you rattle a snake, it will bite, but what about if a snake rattles itself? Does it bite itself or its own tail? What about if you use a long pole to rattle the snake, will the pole be bitten in stead?
ReplyDeleteThere are those who still have the mindset of Michuki, although they are few, and they are definetly species that is ending (dying). But there are still a few who really think you need to speak through someone as a community... (Name?)
ReplyDeleteExcuse the digression for a moment with regard to Ann Kigutas of KTN who never cease to amaze when it comes to voicing over programs or news item such as the "John Michuki's Profile."
ReplyDeleteThe likes of Kiguta may be good at the activity of broadcasting news on television, or reporting for their news media outlets.
However, must she take contents from other well known sources and pass them off (verbatim) as her own?
One wonders what became of the old craft of researching the events that influenced or impacted the lives, careers, visions, modus operandi etc of prominent personalities, politicians and people?
And then adding an informative twist or different educational angle to the segment for the sake of the listners or viewers as well as thee credibility of the media station or production house?
The voicing over the 'John Michuki Profile' segement was one of the shoddiest and lousiest job ever produced by any media house as far as I am concerned.
Why would producers at KTN decide to insult the audience's intelligence by yanking a segment of archive documentary film and then slap on plagiarized contents?
Was it an issue of benign sloppiness and laziness by a few individuals, or is it a malignant case of cut and paste business as usual at KTN?
LOL@ethnic entrepreneur!
ReplyDeleteHeh heh. Chris this one has really 'rattled' some folks here. Painful i agree but still true. Anon 4.37 am. Can a snake rattle itself....too funny.....))
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteThere are those who still have the mindset of Michuki, although they are few, and they are definitely species that is ending (dying). But there are still a few who really think you need to speak through someone as a community... (Name?)
------------------------------------
M.K. a.aka. the iron lady
Funny how the people who complain about michuki ordering the killing of mungiki are not from central province which bore the brunt of the mungiki menace let me put it to you that to us he is a hero for fighting the mungiki and no revisionisn will change that we leave that to fools!!!
ReplyDeleteTrue Michuki was a colonial administrator but we should also thoroughly interrogate which communities (mainly form the western parts and nyanz0 contributed the highest number of police used to put down the mau mau rebellion and I am certain that most of you would hang your heads in shame.
Let the old man be his legacy is done you wont build yours by trying to tear down his in the end you accomplish nothing an empty leagacy while Michuki's legacy lives on!!
@ anon 2/23/12 1:21 PM
ReplyDeleteShame on you !!!
As much as I detest ODM i detest filthy minds like yours. How dare you insult Ida ?do you have a mother ? Is that what she taught you??? if you dont have anything intelligent to say dont say it hear we are adults
admin should delete your post ASAP!!!!
Anon@1:21pm
ReplyDeleteE-Cop here.
Kumekucha has NO ROOM for the likes of you and your spam mouth. From me this is the only warning you will get
I was who I was, but not the person you thought that I was for a long time.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, as we part ways, I would like to remind you not to ever view me as a hard worker, an astute businessman, a self-made man, a total man, go-getter (goat herder).
Or even a no nonsense person at a time when most of you had no clue that I have always had an overly unlimited access 24/7 to the vaults of the Central Bank (of Kenya), the Treasury, major banks, and many financial institutions in the country since the mid 1960s.
Including 24/7 personal access to all the former and current presidents, wealthy businessmen, well connected families, individuals in the country and foreign investors who operated multi-million dollar businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda and Dem. Rep of Congo (formerly Zaire).
As well as all the Kenyan Indian business community, remnants of the colonial settlers, foreign corporate wildlife ranchers on Kenya soil, top notch security apparatus, and a permanent diplomatic passport that was first issued on October, 1968.
And last but not least, the carte blanche authority to do as I pleased or wanted at any time, any where and with whoever or whatever institutions I choose to do business with, regardless of whether the objective was domestic or foreign.
Hmmm. Wouldn't some of you be as good businessmen and women as I have been for the last four decades, given all the golden opportunities that were granted to me by chance, call it a silver platter if you will, at various stages of my life?
Or are some of you going to instantly dismiss the afore mentioned with one stroke loaded with remarks and counter claims that it is nothing more than a wasteful comparison of apples (mangoes from Gaichanjiru) to oranges (bananas from Karima)?
By the way, I just want you all to know that I was vehemently opposed to the 'Harambee' initiative that was instituted by the late 'Baba wa Taifa' due to the negative impact it has had on the rural people who ended up failing to think for themselves or even to dream of being self starters and astitute business people like some of us were from the 1960s to the present day.
Anyway, what will become of you in terms of contributions to the nation once you have gone?
What are you doing at the moment in order to attain highher goals beyond surviving from one paycheck to another paycheck?
FYI, you have my permission to hate me as much as you want, but I did what I had to do in order to survive, given all the insurmountable odds stacked against me from the time I was ten years old.
Let alone being a son born to a woman who happened to be the fourtieth wife of a one time powerful chief of my home region.
Allow me to rest in peace, although I dare you all to challenge me when you reach the age of eighty years while having accomplished all that I did, regardless of whether silver platters, silver spoons, rusted spades or political pitcforks were granted to some of you.
@2/23/12 1:26 PM
ReplyDeleteIgnorance is bliss, please know thyself and your so-called colonial history.
Majority of the people who did more damage to the Mau Mau warriors (resistance fighters) were the home guards, informers and Mau Mau deserters.
They are the people who knew the language and dialects, the ins and outs, the Mau Mau modus operandi and the terrain of the Aberdares like the back of their sweaty hands and foreheads laced with betrayal and hate for the Mau Mau.
Lest you forget the fact that, it was the home guard (KTP - Kikuyu Tribal Police) who were responsible for some 42% of the Mau Mau deaths and contributed the highest damage inflicted upon the Mau Mau, their sympathizers and diehard supporters.
Why and how was Kimathi wa Waciuri captured? Why did this great man end up being consumed so much by constant paranoia induced from the rank and file within the Mau Mau? Go figure!
What precipitated the infamous Lari Massacre? Go figure!
FYI, the British didn't even trust the Kamba, Kalenjin, Luo, Luhya, Kisii, Kuria, Nandi, Kipsigis, Turkana, Taita, Indian, Teso, Sebei, Samburu, Somali, Maasai, et al military nor police personnel to the point where they had to import the Nubians and other soldiers from regions as far as Northern Uganda for express purpose of exterminating the 'Mau Mau Menace' as the likes of Colonel Philip Morcombe (better known as "Koloneli Makombo") had branded the War of Liberation (Uhuru).
LOL! Where do you think the likes of Gen. Idi Amin Dada horned his skills for suppression and mass extermination of his perceived enemies and opponents?
The former tyrant is credited for shooting down over 350 Mau Mau fighters according to one British Colonel who was so proud of Sgt. Idi Amin Dada's sniper skills and valor during skirmishes with bands of Mau Mau fighters.
While we're busy pointing one finger at imaginary culprits, the other four fingers are directed at us at all times.
Please, know your colonial and ethnic history, then figure out whether your people were on the side of the brutal home guards and Mau Mau warriors (liberators, freedom fighters, resistance movement againsst the colonial empire).
Or whether they were just distant observers and at times collateral damage, due to no fault of their own other than the geographic layout of the country, that's now better known as Kenya.
Njoroge Michuki's Legacy.
ReplyDeleteAlas, most of my conversations are facile rather than fierce. I say, I didn't say anything to some of the so-called the wealthy people of Kenya like Njoroge Michuki, Kirima, Moody Awori, Njenga Karume, Daniel arap Moi, Gatabaki, Oginga Odinga, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenneth Matiba, Lord Delamere et al because I didn't know what I might hear.
So what legacy are people going to talk about with regard to the late Njoroge Michuki?
Will it be a legacy as in an amount of money or properties he has left to his family in a will?
Or will his so-called legacy extend to other known or soon to be known institutions such as:
a) Njoroge Michuki University,
b) Njoroge Michuki General Hospital,
c) Njoroge Michuki Girls School,
d) Njoroge Michuki Boys School,
e) Njoroge Michuki Stadium,
f) Njoroge Michuki Auditorium,
g) Njoroge Michuki (Municipal) Market,
h) Njoroge Michuki Children's National Medical Center,
i) Njoroge Michuki Polytechnic,
j) Njoroge Michuki Light Train Terminus etc?
What really becomes of the legacies of one time prominent individuals decades after they have been gone and are long forgotten by successive generations?
When will the wealthiest people among us start embracing the over due tradition of endowing various institutions in their home areas as well as around the country?
Njenga Karume dead at 83
ReplyDeleteWhy does Raila Odinga paint his cotton white hair black?
ReplyDeleteJakom loves applying Kiwi black shoe polish in his hair because he's really afraid of - as well as fears - looking as old as his more wiser counterparts like Tha(m)bo Mbeki, Wole Soyinka among other silver haired wise men and women of Africa.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for Agwambo, old age and the rest of the package that comes with aging have a way creeping up on people when they least expect it, or at a time when they are still convinced that age is nothing more than a number - (of years engraved on one's internal organs.)
Men who are very insecure are known to fiddle with the colour of their hair, moustache, eyebrows and what have you.
Yet they have been known to never get their bodies into better healthy looking physique.
Case in point, Raila seems to have a real problem supporting the upper frame of his body on the pair of his wobbling knees and ankles.
Rumour has it that, his trip to India may have also involved seeking some type of advanced treatment for the various alignments - rheumatoid arthritis being one of them - that have afflicted him of late, at the early age of sixty-seven.
So imagine what will become of Jakom if he is lucky enough to live up to be Mzee Njenga Karume's, Mzee Daniel arap Moi's and Njoroge Michuki's age?
Need I say anymore?
I am certain that most of you would hang your heads in shame.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed we would but only after you have bothered to be real honest with yourself and also cared to take the time to re-read the comments @12/11/09 9:19 PM and @12/11/09 9:30 PM that appeared under the Kumekucha's post entitled What Njenga Karume Left Out of His Biography.
May Mzee Njenga Karume rest in eternal peace.