Ndolo, the General who wanted to be President of Kenya

Twelve men were jailed on June 8, 1971 for conspiracy to overthrow the government of Jomo Kenyatta.

Although he was not among those in the dock, Maj-Gen Joseph Ndolo, the head of the military, was said to have been the man behind the plot and the one designated as president had the coup succeeded.

The first African Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) quietly resigned from office shortly after his co-conspirators were jailed.

Born in 1919, Maj-Gen Ndolo quickly rose through the ranks to become the first Kenyan head of the armed forces.

He had been recruited into the King’s African Rifles, and was a high-ranking officer within the newly established Kenya Army at independence.

When Ndolo was appointed Army Commander in 1966, the newly created position of Chief of Defence Staff was held by Major-General Penfold, a British officer.

Ndolo’s rise to the top was linked to the 1964 Lanet Mutiny. The mutineers had demanded, among other things, the Africanisation of the top echelons of the military.

“Although Kenyatta retained a British general as army commander-in-chief for two more years, by the end of 1964, Africans held all of the executive positions in frontline units,” writes Timothy Parsons in Military Unrest and National Amnesia in Kenya.

Ndolo was the President of the military tribunal that tried the 1964 mutineers. Joseph Daniel Owino, one of the 1971 conspirators, was discharged dishonourably for his role in the Lanet mutiny.

Constant assurances
The Yatta MP, Gideon Mutiso, claimed during his trial that he had written a proclamation letter for Ndolo that the latter was to have read out after overthrowing the government.

It would state the reasons why the military would stage a coup. “…Had it not been for the constant assurances of Ndolo that there was every possibility of succeeding in the plot, I would not have taken part in it…” Mutiso said.

In an interview with the Daily Nation in 2009, Gen Jackson Mulinge, who took over from Ndolo, confessed that he had been approached by Ndolo to back the coup.

Mulinge implies that he saved Kenyatta by turning down Ndolo’s approach, but also helped to dissuade the president from arresting Ndolo over the coup.

“Soldiers are trained to take orders from their superiors. In this case Ndolo is their commander. To arrest Ndolo, you can’t send some junior officers to do so. You are inviting a mutiny Mr President,” Mulinge said he told Kenyatta.

Kenyatta seems to have approached the 1971 coup attempt with the utmost delicacy.

The plotters were tried for a lesser charge of sedition, which carried jail sentence rather than treason, which carried the death penalty.

Ndolo was eased from office with full benefits and Mulinge promoted as the de facto head of the armed forces. Ndolo died on April 6, 1984 in a road accident while driving alone from Mombasa to his home in Sultan Hamud.

What could have driven him and his co-conspirators to think of toppling Kenyatta?

Historians point at two main factors.

First, the euphoria of independence had mostly evaporated as an increasingly frail Kenyatta fell out with many of his comrades-in-arms, including Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.

Two years before the conspiracy, Odinga had been detained and his Kenya Peoples Union party banned.

The 1969 Kisumu riots, in which 11 people were killed, were followed by a government clampdown on critics. The central Kenya power barons that surrounded the president consolidated their grip on the State to the exclusion of others.

Secondly, early in the same year, a precedent had been set in neighbouring Uganda with Idi Amin, the head of the military, ousting President Milton Obote. Dr Obote, who had himself fallen out with Kabaka Mutesa, was being accused of the same ills confronting Kenyatta.

The arrest, trial and conviction of the conspirators sparked massive rallies around the country to re-affirm loyalty in the Kenyatta administration.

Mr S.K Sachdeva, then acting Senior Resident Magistrate, convicted them on their own plea of “guilty”.

During prosecution, evidence of planning meetings, co-ordination and execution of the coup attempt, which was scheduled for April 8, that year were laid bare in court.

The accused confessed that the plotting took place in Ukambani, Kampala and Dar es Salaam.

It was said Mr Mutiso was the chairman of the Revolutionary Council, the political arm of the plotters, while Mwendwa, as CJ, would have sworn Ndolo into office as president.

In Parliament, Githunguri MP Arthur Magugu sought a statement on how much the CJ knew about the conspiracy and whether he was an accomplice.

The heated debate drew in his elder brother, Ngala Mwendwa, who was Minister for Labour. He defended his kin to the hilt.

After the debate, Kenyatta supporters demonstrated with placards, calling for the CJ’s resignation. He resigned on July 7, 1971.

But how did their plot leak?

Evidence in court pointed to three possible weak links. Mr Mutiso said he had shown the proclamation he had been asked by Maj-Gen Ndolo to write to a colleague in Parliament Buildings.

The second point could have been intelligence reports from Kampala and Dar es Salaam . Prof Ouma Muga, the first accused was said to have been coordinating from Makerere University where he was teaching.

Joseph Daniel Owino, the seventh accused was planning from Dar es Salaam where he met Prof Muga on several occasions.

Maj-Gen Ndolo, it was said, held 12 “goat-eating” meetings to plot the coup in his Makueni home.

Among the conspirators were;

Gideon Mutiso

Deputy Public Prosecutor James Karugu, who was later to become Attorney-General, described him as the “pivot around which the whole conspiracy to overthrow the government of the Republic of Kenya revolved.”

After his arrest, he made detailed confessions to the police and wrote a letter to Kenyatta pleading for pardon.

In the confessions, he said Ndolo first told him of the coup plot at Parliament Buildings at a reception held in honour of Yugoslavia President Joseph Tito.

The letter to Kenyatta produced in court pleaded for “pardon, mercy and forgiveness for a lost son.” He was jailed for nine-and-a-half years.

Joseph Daniel Owino

He was the seventh accused who the DPP described as a “ring leader” of the plot.

He was the point of reference by all the conspirators who made confessions to police to that effect.
As an officer cadet, he was earlier court marshaled in 1964 for “incitement to mutiny” at Lanet barracks and jailed for seven years.

He planned the conspiracy from Dar es Salaam where he co-ordinated with Prof Muga who often visited him from his Makerere University base in Kampala.

Trial magistrate S K Sachdeva wondered how such person with “little education” could hold sway to professors, legislators, and top military and civil servants. He was jailed for nine-and-a-half years.

Prof Joseph Ben Ouma Muga

The former MP for Rangwe was the first accused on the charge sheet.

This was in reference to his mitigation that he was an “unwilling and hesitant participant.”

“If he would not have held strong views, he would not have allowed himself to be convinced by the 7th accused (Owino), a semi-educated man,” observed the magistrate.

At the time, Prof Muga was a senior lecturer in the Geography Department at Makerere University. He was jailed for eight years.

Apollo Abraham Wakiaga Odare

He was the second accused on the charge sheet.

The magistrate observed that he “is a highly educated person who has held important civil service posts.”
In mitigation he told the court that he was dragged in the conspiracy by people who had already planned it.

Mr Sachdeva disagreed arguing that in view of his intellectual capacity, he would not have fallen in the trap of Owino. At the time, he was the deputy General Manager of Cotton Lint and Seed Marketing Board. He was jailed for eight years.

Juvenalis Benedict Aoko

The third accused was a Catholic church committee official in Nairobi. He was jailed for eight years.

said he was the “link person” to all conspirators including those who played peripheral roles. He was jailed for eight years.

Joshua Omoth Ooko

He was the fourth accused.

At the time he was a councillor in the Nairobi City Council representing Kaloleni Ward.

According to confessions, he was tasked to mobilise people in Nairobi on the fateful day.

He attended planning meetings where it was decided that “people-power” was necessary for the conspiracy to succeed. He received eight years.

Silvanus Christopher Okech Oduor

The eighth accused was like Aoko a “link person” to all the conspirators. He was imprisoned for eight years.

Eliud Kipserem arap Some Langat, Daniel Kipkrui arap Langat, and Eric Kimtai Chepkuony

They were charged as fifth, sixth and nineth accused respectively.

The court was satisfied that none was a ring-leader in the plot.

Nonetheless, the court concluded that they were “cogs in the wheel of the conspiracy (and) they were important cogs without whom the wheels could not turn.”

With their military training, “they were prepared to kill and destroy in the parts they were given” to play in the coup. They were jailed for seven years each.

Elijah Mukaya Sabwe, Jafetha Oyangi Mbaja, Ahmed Abdi Aden

They were charged as 10th, 11th and 12th accused respectively.

Sabwe was a former official of Odinga’s Kenya Peoples Union party which had been banned. Oyangi too was a KPU politician and close aide of Odinga.

They both hailed from Western and they were tasked to mobilise people from the region to support the coup.

Aden from North Eastern was similarly to play same role of mobilising people from the region. They were jailed for seven years each.