In fact Kariuki was lucky in that he missed the hangman's noose by a whisker. And it all happen simply because he was the “wrong tribe.”
Mulinge with Mahmood Mohammed in the 80s
Senior military and even police appointments have always been political. The insecure Kenyan presidency in the past has been uncomfortable about having any senior security men close to them whom they do not trust completely. And quite often those they trust have ended up being people from their own villages and where possible relatives. Both Ben Gethi who headed GSU and Bernard Hinga (police commissioner) were relatives of President Jomo Kenyatta. This has meant that promotion beyond a certain level in the military and police has always been highly dependent on the politics of the day rather than merit. The saddest thing here is that many very competent and deserving officers have lost out simply because they were the wrong tribe.
Mercifully things are beginning to change now but ever too slowly.
But back to Kariuki's tale. The only reason that Kariuki headed the air force under Moi was because that wing of the KDF has always been "highly technical" requiring officers with a strong academic background (especially in the sciences). The result is that to this day most of the air force personnel are either Luo or Kikuyu.
It is no secret that the air force has always looked down on non-airforce personnel as uneducated and not very bright. "Watu wa mkono" they used to be referred to in the 1980s. Loosely translated it means the people who do the manual work under supervision of professionals. The rest of the military then quite rightly felt that the air force fellows were full of themselves and “thought that they knew everything." Interestingly current chief spook Michael Gichangi is a former senior air force officer.
Peter Kariuki today: Lost 31 years of his life because he is a Kikuyu.
This military politics was the main reason why the 1982 coup attempt failed. Those outside the air force who had to make a quick decision on whether or not to join the coup plotters just couldn't stand the idea of having the air force lead the putsch and so when they had the chance to crush the 1982 coup attempt you can be sure that it was done with more than a lot of relish and gratification.
And so despite the fact that Peter Kariuki was one of the first people to sound out the alarm that there was a coup plot in the offing in 1982 (well before it actually happened on August 1st) and even informing the CGS at the time (General Mulinge), he was arrested, charged and jailed for 4 years for “failing to stop the coup.” He was also stripped of his military rank.
And it all boiled down to the then President’s well known phobia for the Kikuyu. Moi's great fear for the Kikuyu is illustrated clearly in my book; Dark Secrets of the Presidency. “Iyo Kikuyu lazima alijua kitu, rokota yeye.” (That Kikuyu must have known something, arrest him).
Even more interesting was the man who replaced Kariuki at the air force (which was re-named the “82 air force” after that failed coup.) It was the then deputy army commander General Mahmood Mohammed. Mohammed was quite a character. It is said that at the height of the 82 coup he did not trust any other officer to lead the operation to re-take the KBC (held by the air force and being used to transmit news of the “successful” coup countrywide.) And so he removed his decorated military jacket heavy with medals and stars and put on military fatigues to personally lead the squad that stormed KBC and took out the air force rebels with heavy casualties on the air force side (they were not accepting any surrenders). Mahmoud's gun was said to have been one of the most active in that operation.
Mahmood was a career infantry soldier with a very limited educational background but he is the one who got the nod to take over at the helm of the "technical" airforce, Mahmood later went on to take over as CGS when Mulinge retired.
The JUBILEE government needs to address and correct this great injustice against a patriotic and faithful soldier who has suffered all these years simply because he was the wrong tribe at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Read also;Details of '82 coup still classified information
See also;
Raw notes: Rumours of Uhuru being behind Westgate persist
Kumekucha Real Time Intelligence Reports; Ridiculous way "White Widow" got linked to Westgate.
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