Repression by Kanu drives coup

Parliament changed the Constitution on June 9, 1982 to make Kenya a de jure single party State.


The introduction of the infamous section 2 (a) in the constitution made Kanu the only legal party in the country thus blocking all legitimate ways for any Kenyan outside Kanu to get political power.


Historians blame the change for plunging the country into autocracy and even giving the August coup plotters more reason to overthrow Moi.


The constitutional amendment was unanimously passed in an hour and 45 minutes by a full House. Constitutional Affairs Minister Charles Njonjo was the mover of the motion.


“We now want to make it a de jure one-party State,” he said, adding: “It is with the greatest pleasure that I move this amendment.”


Earlier, the Vice-President and Leader of Government Business, Mwai Kibaki, had moved a procedural motion reducing the publication period of the Bill from 14 to six days.


He said the amendment was simple and that all MPs knew about it.


Seconding the motion, Mr Kibaki urged Kenyans to guard against “confusing agents” who might misinterpret the decision to make Kanu the only political party in Kenya.


Moving the Bill, Mr Njonjo said the members and the Kenyan people knew where they were going.


“This nation has just one President. The world and the press should know that we have our President, His Excellency Daniel Toroitich arap Moi,” he said.


Njonjo added: “The second thing is that Kenya is a sovereign State. We know the House enacted the Constitution and can amend it… and if one wants to know an example of democracy, this is it,” he added.


Mr Njonjo said: “What Kanu is doing is that is following the wishes of the people and the wishes of this House.


On a remark by a university lecturer that the amendment could lead to underground manifestation, Mr Njonjo said: “Those lecturers have been told to watch out because the government can also go underground” .


Mr Kibaki said that those people who wanted to form a socialist party were not sincere because all they wanted was the Presidency.


He assured Kenyans that all the freedoms they had been enjoying as provided for in the Constitution had not been touched by the constitutional amendment.


“The freedom Kenyans want is to elect their President, MPs and councillors. Kenyans have done that for 19 years without interruption,” he said.
On June 25, 1982, the Constitutional Amendment Bill received presidential assent.


But the power monopoly the new law was to give Moi and Kanu were shaken just a month later when rebel officers of the Kenya Air Force tried to overthrow the government.


The coup attempt only made Moi more repressive. Henry Morton, in his 1998 biography of the retired President, Moi: the Making of an African Statesman, notes that from August 1, the day of the coup, Daniel arap Moi withdrew into near-isolation.


“Charles Njonjo, G.G. Kariuki and his other confidants could no longer wander into State House and see the President when the mood took them,” he said.


Their security detail was also withdrawn. There were reports at the time that Njonjo and his allies were planning their own coup on August 5.


Simeon Nyachae, Permanent Secretary for Development Co-ordination in the OP, now controlled all access to Moi. Their power bid was crashed by Moi’s Chief of General Staff Jackson Mulinge and General Mahmoud Mohammed.


The failed coup turned Kenya into a police state with Moi embarking on a crackdown of dissidents through the use of detention without trial.


Among the victims were Koigi Wamwere, an outspoken MP, Willy Mutunga, a law lecturer and current Chief Justice, students leader Titus Adungosi, who died in detention, journalist Otieno Mak Onyango, UoN Engineering dean, Prof Alfred Vincent Otieno and Raila Odinga who was the Deputy Director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS).


A shaken Moi also disbanded and reorganised the KAF and other security organs, after the coup. Kikuyu officers were replaced with members of his Kalenjin community whom he could trust.


Army commander Major-General Joe Musoma was removed and made Ambassador to Pakistan in order to facilitate the rise of officers such as Lieutenant General John Sawe.


By 1984, three of the eight provincial heads of the Special Branch and the new CID head, Noah arap Too, were Kalenjin.