Man who gave false testimony against Kenyatta dies in crash

• Old man says he was enticed by colonial government to lie in return for favours

The man who gave false testimony against Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in order to get favours from the colonial Government has died.

A freak accident ended the life of Rawson Mbugua Macharia whose heydays were full of controversy.

At one time leading to his imprisonment for perjury over claims that he gave false evidence against Mr Kenyatta who would become Kenya’s first President.

When he was handed a six-month jail term in the early 1980’s, Macharia had sworn an affidavit claiming he was mislead by the colonial masters to give false evidence that would land Kenyatta in jail together with his comrades in the freedom struggle (The Kapenguria Six)

Carry briefcase

A manuscript of a book he was about to publish to clear the air about the famous trial was later confiscated by the Government and kept in the National Archives, according to a lawyer who represented a publishing house involved in the suit.

On Friday, a motor bike hit the old man as he crossed the Thika-Nairobi Highway near his residence in Juja area, killing him on the spot.

After the accident near High Point Restaurant, the boda boda (taxi) motorcyclist fled the scene and is still at large. Police led by the Juja station commander James Kilonzo have been hunting for the cyclist.

Macharia who was in his late 80’s lived at Gachororo village with one of his three sons, Samuel Marima Mbugua. Two of his sons and their mother Edith Mwihaki, are dead.

The old man who was known to be reserved and reclusive lived next to several rental apartments he had built.

He hailed from Muthurumbi village in Gatundu district where he will be buried on Thursday. The man was known to be ever in suits and a tie and always carried a briefcase wherever he went.

On the day he was knocked down by the motorbike, he had carried it heading to Nairobi. The man was also an avid reader of Daily Nation and Taifa Leo newspapers.

Mr Francis Munyua Waititu who often shared a cup of tea with the old man at his popular Senate Hotel café in Juja, said he had a high sense of neatness.

“He would quickly summon the waitress whenever a drop of tea fell on the table and took offence if she took long to wipe it,” he said.

Kapenguria saga