Grapes of Wrath: How Moi’s repression prompted coup bid

• Repression, detention without trial and torture of people who advocated reforms in the early years of Moi’s rule are blamed for the abortive coup of 1982. The events then set the stage for the search for a new constitution

Fortunately for Mr Lone, two airlines, KLM and Iberia, were advertisers in Viva magazine and sometimes offered tickets which did not have to be cleared with CBK. He took advantage of those and flew with his family to London.

“I did not expect I would be in London for very long. Ngugi wa Thiong’o was there on a book tour, and I linked up with him. We went to the Kenyan high commission to seek assurances on whether we could return and eventually the call came that we were cleared to go back home. But then we received a call from Nairobi from a friend, Damon Ngugi. He told us he had been informed instructions had been issued that we were to be locked up on arrival at the airport. We had to change our travel plans.

“We stayed on in London, and on August 1 1982, I received a call from Wanjiru Kihoro. She informed me there had been a coup in Kenya. My first thought was ‘great, now I can go home.’ But, of course, we later learnt what had happened and again travel plans had to change.”
Mr Lone says there is a world of difference between Kenya 28 years ago today and the nation that is poised to vote on a new constitution on Wednesday.

“The most striking thing is how major decisions in today’s Kenya are taken in a democratic fashion. Kenya is now one of the most democratic countries, not just in Africa but in the world. There is a free press, probably even freer than in places such as the US where there is still a culture of deference to authority. Of course we have problems – there is inequality, insecurity and other challenges.

But the democratic way in which the proposed constitution has been formulated is a source of pride.

“On Wednesday, Kenyans will choose a new constitutional order, and it will be a triumph over the Moi years when major decisions were taken with the aid of torture, detention without trial and even executions.”

Next week: In the second and final instalment of this special report, read about Mr Lone’s near-death experience at the Nyayo House torture chambers and his ill-fated decision to return to the country after a Cabinet minister assured him he would be safe.