Hydra
August 21, 2017, 6:31pm
23
The tussle between TJ and Jaramogi went this way. After Lancaster, TJ became the darling of the west. So much so that some in those quarters thought that TJ would make a great head of state. In comes Jaramogi with his new proclaimation, “No independence without Kenyatta”. Note, this proclamation was meant to knock TJ off base since he was a legislator from Nairobi whose base was predominantly mountaineers. So TJ was knocked off that ladder and lived to fight another day. His opportunity came in the early 60’s when TJ and Njonjo, in concert with others, crafted the ‘ceremonial vice presidency’ that Jaramogi ascended to post-independence. They crafted it in such a way that it gave Jaramogi the semblance of power but in actual fact, made him a paper tiger. The VP was not elected, could not ascend to power in case the president died/was declared unfit to serve and had no concrete role in government. Despite protests from KPU, the ceremonial VP position was created as envisioned by others to suit their political interests (centralise power and manage potential power seekers). That is why the Odingas never seem to favour TJ. He did to them what they did to him. Interestingly, the same thing happened to Jaramogi’s son, Agwambo, whose ‘Kibaki Tosha’ moniker made a king but years later, had to settle into the amorphous Office of the PM. History has a way of repeating itself. What I’m trying to say is that elimination of TJ does not seem to serve the interests of the Odingas. TJ alikuwa ndani ndaaannniiii on matters succession and was the de-facto leader of Kanu B, a sub-group of KANU with a more nationalistic outlook than the kitchen cabinet that Kanu A stood for. Like Kanu A, Kanu B was positioning itself in case Mzee went to be with the gods following his heart attack in '66. No other groups were relevant during the Kenyatta succession. Eliminating TJ wouldn’t have put Jaramogi at the helm of Kanu B and that being the case, TJ was more of a political adversary than he was a threat. Halafu, Jaramogi was not an assassination kind of guy. That was not his modus operandi.
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Yeah TJ was eyeing the presidency kabisa, at this time he had pushed the legislation that a presidential candidate must be at least 35 years of age, so at 38/39 he was assured that the age would never be used to keep him from being boss. Unfortunately, he was being watched.