Ngonya wa Gakonya in white in accompanying image obtained from “The Weekly Review” Magazine of 2nd February 1990. Ngonya was Gakonya will probably be best remembered in Kenya for his “Tent of the living God” religious sect. Additionally, Ngonya wa Gakonya will also be remembered as a true stuntman and daredevil. For example, prior to the 1997 Kenyan general elections and after the the 1997 Kenyan general elections i.e. the years 1997 & 1998, Kenyan Civil Society was in top gear agitating for changes to the Kenyan Constitution that would allow for greater liberties, what were referred to then as “minimum reforms.” So in the years 1997 & 1998 there were regular demonstrations, pickets & sit ins in many corners of Kenya on a near bimonthly basis.
During one of one these incidents/protests in the year 1998, Ngonya wa Gakonya famously gained entry into Jomo Kenyatta’s mausoleum on the grounds of Parliament in Nairobi, Kenya. Jomo Kenyatta’s mausoleum has four sides i.e. the main entrance on Parliament Road facing Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), the side facing Hotel Intercontinental, the side facing Uhuru Highway/Uhuru Park, and the side facing Parliament.
There were highly charged demonstrations on Parliament Road with anti-riot police at hand dispersing demonstrators and firing tear gas canisters at the them. As the focus continues to be on Parliament Road, Ngonya wa Gakonya quietly sneaks away to Uhuru Highway and the side of Jomo Kenyatta’s mausoleum facing Uhuru Highway.
Ngonya dressed in his trademark “shukas” (sheet clothing) and “akala” (sandals made out of car tyres), scales the fence of Jomo Kenyatta’s mausoleum, jumps in and proceeds right up to Jomo’s grave where Ngonya made pleas to Jomo to “save Kenya.” Ngonya was a gifted orator, and very well spoken in Kiswahili, Kikuyu & English, and made his plea to Jomo in all three languages.
The two Kenya Army sentries on guard duty at Jomo Kenyatta’s mausoleum could not believe what they were seeing. After making his plea to Jomo, Ngonya now turned & faced Mt. Kenya, now making his plea to the gods to “save Kenya” in all three languages once again, much more audibly, and mixed in with incantations.
The Kenya Army sentries on guard duty quickly summoned detectives in civilian clothing, detectives then that were dreaded and that belonged to what was known as the “Flying Squad” unit, heavily built guys the size of George Foreman, Jonah Lomu or Shaquille O’Neal, who used to drive around in the 1990s in trademark Peugeot 504 station wagons.
About six of these heavily built guys descended on Ngonya wa Gakonya and quickly handcuffed him, both his hands and feet. They in turn could not believe what they were seeing. Before they even questioned Ngonya, they laughed in amazement and shock for about a minute. They were even lost for words, uttering half-sentences in Kiswahili e.g. “Na wewe…?” i.e. “Honestly…?” and “Kweli una roho” i.e. “You have guts.”
They then descended on Ngonya non-stop for about a minute, giving Ngonya a thorough beating, a mixture of hard slaps to the face, kicks and lashings with a local whip known as “nyahunyo,” with Ngonya crying out & writhing in pain. It is not even clear whether Ngonya was charged with trespassing thereafter, but work on him Kenya style, those detectives did.
Ngonya wa Gakonya passed away in 2006.[ATTACH=full]238137[/ATTACH]