MP who hid in President’s home to avoid arrest

In the 1974 General Election, Kikuyu constituency happened to be one of the hot spots in the country as two political titans, the incumbent Joseph Gatuguta and challenger Kabibi Kinyanjui crossed political daggers.

In one of the many violent confrontations between their supporters, police swiftly moved in to arrest Gatuguta’s youth-wingers and locked them in as they hunted for the MP whom they wanted to prosecute.

To avoid arrest, the MP drove to the President’s Gatundu home to seek protection.

Told what had happened, the President telephoned Police Commissioner Bernard Hinga to hear his version of events.

It was a weekend and the Police Commissioner was playing darts at the Nairobi Civil Servants Club.

INFORMATION
The President wasn’t amused to hear the head of the police was playing darts even as election-related violence went on in some parts of the country.

“How can you be playing darts as the country burns?” an agitated President demanded.

“Your Excellency, even as I play darts, I am in constant communication with all my field officers. I know what is happening where and I have issued appropriate instructions to contain the situation,” the police commissioner explained.

“If that is so, then tell me what is happening in Kikuyu,” the President demanded.

Without hesitation, the police commissioner gave a detailed account of what had happened in Kikuyu and in every other trouble spot in the country and what his officers were doing about it.

“Great Bwana Commissioner, I see you’re fully in control. You can continue playing darts. But tell me, where is the Kikuyu MP?”

“Your Excellency, my officers are looking for him. We want to arrest him and arraign him in court on Monday.”

ARREST
After a deep breath, the President said chuckling: “Well, he is hiding in my house, what will you do about it?”

“We will wait until he comes out of your house and arrest him,” the police boss replied.

“Ok, Bwana Commissioner. Let’s strike a deal. Since he is here with me, I will give him a strong warning not to cause trouble again.

"In that case you forgive him for now, but next time he misbehaves and runs to my house, I will personally arrest him and hand him over to you.”

The MP lost that election. For consolation, the President appointed him chairman of the Transport Licensing Board (TLB).

Even there, he would cry-baby to the Head of State.

TLB TRIBUNAL
It happened that the government was pursuing a policy to fully Africanise the transport sector.

The TLB would arbitrarily refuse to grant or renew licences for foreigners.

But the latter would promptly appeal to the Licence Appeals Tribunal chaired by an expatriate English judge who would overrule the TLB.

Gatuguta brought the matter to the President’s attention and pleaded that he dissolves the appeals tribunal.

The President sought the opinion of Attorney-General Charles Njonjo, who said the tribunal could only be dissolved through an Act of Parliament, and that firing the stubborn 'mzungu' could result in a diplomatic ruckus with London.

The President reluctantly agreed with the AG but only to buy time.

NATIONAL INTEREST
A few months later, while the AG was out of the country, he telephoned Gatuguta and asked:

“Is the little mzungu still giving you trouble at the TLB?” Told yes, old Jomo said in a conspiratorial tone:

“Njonjo (the AG) is away. Be here very early tomorrow morning. I will sign a Gazette notice to dissolve the tribunal by decree. Njonjo can get his mzungu another job elsewhere.”

But much as old Jomo was ready to bend rules for his friend Gatuguta, he firmly put his foot on the ground where he felt the national interest was at stake.

The former MP told me of an incident in which some businessmen friends of his approached him with an idea that they buy beans from the strategic national reserve and sell them to Argentina where there was a good market.

FOOD SECURITY
The MP was to use his good connections to secure the required paperwork to effect the deal, for which he would get his “cut”.

The businessmen were also to make a donation to the President’s pet project — the Gatundu Self-help Hospital — then under construction.

The President listened to the MP explain the deal and telephoned then head of the Civil Service Geoffrey Kareithi for an opinion.

The latter was firmly opposed to the idea, arguing that the beans in the national strategic reserve were just enough for the country with none to spare for export.

Without room for any argument, the President firmly told his MP friend:

“Go and tell your friends to look for another business. Not a single bean will leave the country.”

SHILLING
On another occasion where the MP was present, it was the turn of Finance Minister Mwai Kibaki to face a stubborn old Jomo.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had put a strong case that the Kenya shilling, then exchanging at seven shillings to the dollar (can you believe that!) be devalued to reflect economic realities of the day.

The Treasury had presented the case to the Cabinet but the President had vetoed the idea, which he saw as a conspiracy by the West to lord it over Africans.

Subsequently, Kibaki had sought a private session with the President where he hoped he could quietly convince him.

At Gatundu, the Finance minister explained the situation using all the economics he had learned at Makerere and at the London School of Economics, only for the President to ask him to repeat all he had said but in mother tongue.

DEVALUE
According to the former MP, Kibaki was at a loss for words, at one point standing to explain what elasticity of commodity prices was, using his waist belt.

The President was still not convinced. He said: “Look, if you cannot explain what devaluation is in your mother tongue, I won’t allow it,” the President ruled.

The shilling wouldn’t be devalued until the 1973/74 global oil crises.

The former Kikuyu MP also told me of a case that really put old Jomo in a dilemma.

His eldest daughter, Ms Margaret Kenyatta, who had been the Mayor of Nairobi, had resigned to take up an ambassadorial appointment.

MAYOR

However, midway, she had changed her mind and decided to keep her mayoral job.

In the meantime, the Deputy Mayor, Andrew Ngumba, who was married to the President’s niece, had declared interest in the mayoral job and launched a full-blast campaign.

Despite all efforts to prevail on him to voluntarily step down for the President’s daughter, the latter declined.

The former MP recalled to me the words of old Jomo as he gave up on the matter:

“The two contestants are my children. I can’t favour one against the other. I will tell them to go and fight it out there. I will get another job for the loser.”

In this case, the daughter lost to the son-in-law.

For consolation, she was appointed Kenya’s ambassador to Unep. In the President’s court, there is always enough to go round.

****

In his Friday column, Nation Public Editor Peter Mwaura raised fundamental questions in regard to my last week’s story: Playing spy on Comoros islands.

First is the question of ethical behaviour.

His contention is that journalists must never have any association with the intelligence services which, he says, is “unethical” and “bad enough” for perception.

I beg to differ. Intelligence services anywhere in the world are heavily funded by the public to gather intelligence.

In Kenya, the taxpayer pays more than five billion shillings every financial year to fund the National Intelligence Services (NIS).

ALERT

What is ethically wrong should a journalist access information gathered by the intelligence and use it for the public good?

Still on association, if a journalist was to stumble on information, say about some characters plotting a terrorist attack, should they not alert security authorities?

Where is the “unholy alliance” there? Maybe the journalist should just keep quiet and let the attack happen to get a big headline!

Reminds me of a journalist who filmed a starving child die just because “ethics” demand that journalists not be part of the story, which he would have “breached” if he gave food to the child!

DISCREET
What of subterfuge? The Public Editor says journalists should never work in disguise.

Easier said than done, when out there, journalists are guided by discretion not textbook theories.

Was I to land in the Comoros and immediately tell everybody I met that I had gone there to look for a notorious terrorist?

Reminds me of a driver who insisted on keeping to his lane on the right even with an oncoming vehicle. He was dead right — and buried!

Lastly is the question of getting “used” or having stories “planted” by in the intelligence.

The assumption here is that journalists are too stupid to be manipulated at whim.

No, every information accessed by media is weighed and used on merit.

The media won’t publish or broadcast just because it has come from intelligence.

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