Former teacher remembers last days with JM Kariuki

If he had rattled the Kenyatta government in his lifetime, he shook it to the core in his death. The President would, on an almost daily basis, feature in the news. After JM’s death, the public mood was so bad that the President did not appear in public for almost two weeks. When he did emerge, it was with an unprecedented show of might, complete with military salutes.

“I recall on an occasion when I had attended a house party hosted by a banker named Warugongo where Ben Gethi, JM, Charles Mukora and other dignitaries were. They appeared to be very close friends from the way they conversed, though I was surprised that JM kept his critical streak even then. But when I later heard that Gethi’s name was mentioned in connection with the murder, I was shocked,” Mr Ngacha said.

The post-mortem report indicated that five shots fired into his body had caused his death. During his life some saw a contradiction between JM’s wealth and his politics which he built on the altar of speaking for the poor. He was a wealthy man who owned huge tracts of land and many horses.

At the time of his death, JM was a millionaire. It is not clear how he amassed his fortune so quickly without somehow engaging in the same vice he so strongly criticised. His family did not benefit from his wealth as his political enemies conspired against them.

“I was his lawyer, and I can tell you JM was not immensely wealthy -- not in the terms that we know today of immense wealth among some people ... But his heart was connected with the poor,” Mr Mindo said. Before venturing into politics, JM had served as the personal secretary to Mzee Kenyatta. The fallout started over JM’s strong views against the way the President was running the government.

After independence, the British Government gave the Kenyatta Government funds to buy back land from the white settlers and redistribute it to Kenyans. However, the redistribution was skewed, and much of the land was handed out to the local political elite.