TBT MV edition
- Thread starter Meria Mata
- Start date
1966:
Dr. Njoroge Mungai, President Jomo Kenyatta's personal doctor and minister of defence was reviewing a formation of fresh recruits in the then Kenya Rifles.
There is a plausible opinion that the inheritance of Western cultural/military ceremonies by new African states was counterproductive. Power, absolute power became easily recognisible because this Western component gave those in charge an infinite sense of power and authority compared to the old traditional systems in Africa.
Dr. Njoroge Mungai, President Jomo Kenyatta's personal doctor and minister of defence was reviewing a formation of fresh recruits in the then Kenya Rifles.
There is a plausible opinion that the inheritance of Western cultural/military ceremonies by new African states was counterproductive. Power, absolute power became easily recognisible because this Western component gave those in charge an infinite sense of power and authority compared to the old traditional systems in Africa.
In September 1966, Vice- President Joseph Murumbi suddenly resigned after only four months in the job. He’d taken over from the first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. Mr Murumbi’s resignation was officially attributed to ill-health but the truth of the matter is that he had found the heat too much for his continued stay in the kitchen of power.
For four months, Kenya had no vice-president as Mzee Kenyatta agonised on who to give the job — and, by extension, be the strongest possible successor to the President.
Just before Christmas, Mzee Kenyatta went for a “working holiday” in central Rift, spending a night with close aides at the Kericho Tea Hotel. On his way back to Nairobi, he told Attorney- General Charles Njonjo who rode with him in the presidential limousine: “I have decided we give the job to Moi.”
On arrival at Nairobi State House, the President asked that Mr Moi be put on the line: “You’re now Mr Vice-President. Come to State House tomorrow morning to be sworn in.” And it was done.
source: diasporamessenger.com
For four months, Kenya had no vice-president as Mzee Kenyatta agonised on who to give the job — and, by extension, be the strongest possible successor to the President.
Just before Christmas, Mzee Kenyatta went for a “working holiday” in central Rift, spending a night with close aides at the Kericho Tea Hotel. On his way back to Nairobi, he told Attorney- General Charles Njonjo who rode with him in the presidential limousine: “I have decided we give the job to Moi.”
On arrival at Nairobi State House, the President asked that Mr Moi be put on the line: “You’re now Mr Vice-President. Come to State House tomorrow morning to be sworn in.” And it was done.
source: diasporamessenger.com
The grave of the British settler, Sir Michael Blundell at St Pauls Chuch, Kiambu. He lived out the last of his days in Muthaiga.
You will recall him from the Lancaster house talks. Here is an excert of from Gerard loughran's book, 'The making of a Nation' about settler hostility towards him in the last days of the colony.
When Blundell returned to Nairobi, a settler at the airport famously threw a small white bag at his feet. It burst open and 30 silversimunis, six-pence pieces, flew in all directions as the man cried dramatically,‘Judas, you have betrayed and left us.’ In the election campaign, Blundell was spat at in upcountry settler strongholds Njoro and Nakuru, and when he spoke at Londiani he was pelted with missiles. He recalled inSo Rough a Wind, his account of the movement towards independence,that ‘a man got up and asked me, “Mr Blundell, don’t you agree that you are a traitor to the European community?” Immediately 12 men and women arose, including a beautiful blonde, and bombarded the chairman and myself with eggs and tomatoes ... the missiles burst and plopped all round and an egg landed and broke on my cheekbone.’ Blundell returned fire with a glass of water but only splashed one of his own campaign workers, and he later found that the tomatoes had been bought from another of his supporters, albeit unwittingly. On election day, Blundell visited a polling station and was cheered by a large crowd of Africans. He wrote,‘A European woman pushed her way up to my small party and spat in my face, rasping at me, “Why don’t you let them kiss you, Judas Iscariot!”’ For nearly three years, Blundell did not enter any Kenyan club because nobody would speak to him or his wife.
You will recall him from the Lancaster house talks. Here is an excert of from Gerard loughran's book, 'The making of a Nation' about settler hostility towards him in the last days of the colony.
When Blundell returned to Nairobi, a settler at the airport famously threw a small white bag at his feet. It burst open and 30 silversimunis, six-pence pieces, flew in all directions as the man cried dramatically,‘Judas, you have betrayed and left us.’ In the election campaign, Blundell was spat at in upcountry settler strongholds Njoro and Nakuru, and when he spoke at Londiani he was pelted with missiles. He recalled inSo Rough a Wind, his account of the movement towards independence,that ‘a man got up and asked me, “Mr Blundell, don’t you agree that you are a traitor to the European community?” Immediately 12 men and women arose, including a beautiful blonde, and bombarded the chairman and myself with eggs and tomatoes ... the missiles burst and plopped all round and an egg landed and broke on my cheekbone.’ Blundell returned fire with a glass of water but only splashed one of his own campaign workers, and he later found that the tomatoes had been bought from another of his supporters, albeit unwittingly. On election day, Blundell visited a polling station and was cheered by a large crowd of Africans. He wrote,‘A European woman pushed her way up to my small party and spat in my face, rasping at me, “Why don’t you let them kiss you, Judas Iscariot!”’ For nearly three years, Blundell did not enter any Kenyan club because nobody would speak to him or his wife.
