When Moi spent night at Nyenze’s three-bedroom house in Kitui

Kitui West MP Francis Nyenze’s first home. PHOTO | KITAVI MUTUA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The President, in his characteristic style of pulling surprises, told Mr Nyenze that he would spend the night at his rural home in Kyondoni village after the first leg of the tour.

  • According to Mr Nyenze’s widow, Edith, Mr Moi told the Kitui West MP that he was not changing his mind and he had no problem “sleeping in whatever rural house or ramshackle” the minister had.

  • The President and his entourage, which included then Cabinet ministers Kalonzo Musyoka, Jackson Mulinge, Nicholas Biwott, Shariff Nassir and Ukambani Kanu supremo Mulu Mutisya among other Kanu leaders, were driven to Mr Nyenze’s home.

Some time in April 1998, President Daniel Moi decided to surprise one of his favourite Cabinet ministers with an unusual visit to his home.

It was at the height of an intriguing political succession in the then ruling party Kanu and proximity to President Moi was considered a huge advantage in the power matrix.

Mr Moi called Mr Francis Nyenze, who had been transferred from the Environment ministry to the Sports and Culture docket in an earlier Cabinet reshuffle, and told him of his plans to tour Kitui for two days.

The visit would entail meetings with Kitui Kanu branch leaders, inspection of government projects, and public rallies in Kitui and Mwingi towns.

The President, in his characteristic style of pulling surprises, told Mr Nyenze that he would spend the night at his rural home in Kyondoni village after the first leg of the tour.

Mr Nyenze, who died last week, was dumbfounded at the prospect of hosting the President in his home for an overnight stay.

STATE LODGES

The visit to the home of Mr Nyenze, then in his late 30s and serving his first term in Parliament, was curious because ordinarily, the President preferred being hosted at the respective district commissioner’s residences whenever he was outside Nairobi in areas where State Lodges do not exist.

Still not believing what the President had told him, Mr Nyenze would that same afternoon drive to State House to ask President Moi if he could consider spending the night elsewhere because he did not have a good house to host him.

According to Mr Nyenze’s widow, Edith, Mr Moi told the Kitui West MP that he was not changing his mind and he had no problem “sleeping in whatever rural house or ramshackle” the minister had. Mrs Nyenze, who was then the principal at Kyondoni Girls’ Secondary School in Kitui, recalled how her husband called her to break the news of the President’s visit that was to happen in two days’ time.

“I told him to stop kidding me and that the President cannot spend the night in our remote village,” Mrs Nyenze told the Nation.

She said they felt inadequate and lacking in facilities to host the President because they only had a simple three-bedroomed house which they had built a few years earlier.

HOST PRESIDENT

“Even though it was a great honour and privilege to host the President at our village home for dinner, we also felt his visit may embarrass us for not having a big house befitting a Cabinet minister,” she recalled.

What followed that evening were marathon preparations to host Mr Moi in under 48 hours and a lot of work went into customising and refurbishing the house to the standards of a “presidential suite”.

A team of top government officers from both State House and Office of the President were dispatched to ensure that Mr Moi was hosted in a residence befitting his status.

“Engineers from the Ministry of Public Works camped there and converted the entire house to Moi’s taste. Everything from the bedrooms to the dining and living rooms were refurbished  and reoriented,” said Mrs Nyenze.

She recalled how the house was also given a fresh coat of paint, new state-of-the-art furniture and new utensils brought and even a telephone hotline for the President installed.

“Hundreds of security personnel, including the elite Presidential Guard, did meticulous work in securing the home and the entire village against any imaginable interference including erecting road blocks all over the area,” she said.

Kitui West MP Francis Nyenze’s palatial home near Kabati market in Kitui County. PHOTO | KITAVI MUTUA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

President Moi kept his word and toured Kitui as planned and, while concluding his address during a rally at Kitui High School where he heaped praise on Mr Nyenze, he said: “Nitalala humu humu na tutaonana kesho (I will spend my night here. See you tomorrow).”

HIGH SPIRITS

The President and his entourage, which included then Cabinet ministers Kalonzo Musyoka, Jackson Mulinge, Nicholas Biwott, Shariff Nassir and Ukambani Kanu supremo Mulu Mutisya among other Kanu leaders, were driven to Mr Nyenze’s home.

Mrs Nyenze recalled that the President’s team arrived at around 6 pm and Moi was in high spirits and chatted with the family members before being served dinner in the house.

“Moi had dinner with us and the ministers but we all left the house for him and his close aides and went to look for alternative accommodation,” she said, adding that in the morning, they joined the President for breakfast before he left.

The Moi visit to Mr Nyenze’s village home became the talk of town and was widely seen as signalling shifting political fortunes for some leaders in Ukambani region.

LEADERS

During the time, Kanu had many senior leaders in Kitui and, apart from Mr Nyenze, others included former ministers Mr Musyoka, now Wiper party leader, Mr George Ndotto and Ms Nyiva Mwendwa, all who had magnificent residences compared to Mr Nyenze’s modest dwelling.

However, unknown to President Moi, Mr Nyenze had played host to Opposition leader Jaramogi Oginga in that very house years before he joined Kanu. Mrs Nyenze said the house was opened by Mr Oginga during the campaigns for the 1992 elections.

“Jaramogi came with his team, he opened the house and we had lunch but he didn’t spend the night here because he was on the campaign trail,” she said.

Perhaps the inadequacy that the Nyenzes felt while hosting President Moi was what inspired them to build an ultra-modern home befitting not just a Cabinet minister but the President.