H i s t o r yKE Profile picture
Jan 8, 2019 13 tweets 4 min read Read on X
#HistoryKeThread In Mzee Kenyatta’s sunset days, there was a daring cabal of powerful individuals who were determined to stop his Vice President Moi from taking over the reins of leadership.
Indeed, these vey leaders in September of 1976 played host to a large anti-Moi political rally in Nakuru. During the rally, speaker after speaker called for the Constitution to be changed.
They wanted provisions that made it possible for the Vice President to automatically take over the presidency repealed.

Of course, the focus was on Moi. The Change-The-Constitution movement was scheming to scuttle Moi’s automatic succession.
No fewer than 20 MPs - mostly drawn from GEMA tribes, attended the rally. Among speakers at the rally, which had been organized by fiery politician Kihika Kimani, were Dr. Taitta Towett (pictured), James Gichuru...
...Njenga Karume, Jackson Angaine, Paul Ngei, Dr. Njoroge Mungai and several MPs from the Abagusii community.

Surprisingly, Achieng Oneko, who was Oginga Odinga’s ally, also attended.
Using innuendoes, the MPs lashed out at Attorney General Charles Njonjo and Chief Secretary Kîereini, who were disliked for being Moi sympathizers.

Moi, the politicians argued, was unfit to be President.
Other than Njonjo (R) and Kiereini (L), Vice President Moi had other allies. These included Mwai Kibaki, Robert Matano, Shariff Nassir and Stanley Oloitiptip.
Author Charles Hornsby claims in his book that Central Provincial Commissioner Simeon Nyachae was also seen as a Moi sympathizer. As PC, he used his position to deny the Change-The-Constitution group licenses to hold political rallies in the province.
The anti-Moi forces were so powerful that they used senior police officers to humiliate the then Vice President, who displayed much stoicism.
At road blocks mounted on various roads in and around Nakuru targeting Moi’s motorcade, the VP was humiliated by police officers led by James Mungai, who was at the time the Rift Valley police boss. Some claim that Moi...
....was reportedly physically assaulted by Mr. Mungai on at least one occasion.

The police docket was previously under Moi’s Ministry of Home Affairs. The acts of humiliation began soon after the police and internal security docket was moved to the Office Of The President.
Mzee Kenyatta did not lend support - at least openly - to the Change-The-Constitution movement. It is arguably for this reason that the plot to scuttle Moi’s ascension to the presidency fell flat after Mzee’s death in 1978.
In a twist of irony, Charles Njonjo, the man who almost singly supervised Moi’s swearing-in in accordance with Kenya’s Constitution, would later on be hounded out of government in ignominious circumstances by the former teacher-turned President.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with H i s t o r yKE

H i s t o r yKE Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @HistoryKE

Jul 9, 2023
#HistoryKeThread: James Bond in Kenya - 1901.
These words, describing the fate that befell villagers in Kîhûmbûinî in present-day Mûranga county, were etched on a diary - Kenya Diary (1902 -1906) - by its author.
The author was a man whose service to Britain - according to various records - inspired the legend of James Bond, the main movie character in Ian Fleming’s spy series.
Read 47 tweets
Jun 20, 2023
#HistoryKeThread: World War 1 Action In Kenya
----

Many people believe that WW1 action in Kenya was primarily focused around Taveta. Image
However, there was arguably as much action in other parts of Kenya, including Victoria Nyanza, Kericho and Maasailand.

On Lake Victoria, for instance, the British sank the German armoured tug 'Mwanza'.
As the war raged in western Kenya, a British telecoms expert, Reginald Rice, was dispatched from the telegraph station at Mombasa up to Lake Victoria to establish a telegraph receiver on SS Clement Hill (pictured), a passenger and cargo steamer on the lake. Image
Read 35 tweets
Jun 18, 2023
#HistoryKeThread: Sultan Fumo Bakari and The Witu Resistance
——-

In 1890 a group of Germans set up camp near Witu, Lamu, and started chopping down the forests that surrounded the town. Image
The fact that they were heavily armed and spent much of their spare time engaged in military exercises led the Witu Sultan, Fumo Bakari, to fear that the foreign force was about to stage a coup.

So he stole their weapons. Image
This obviously upset the Germans, so they marched on Witu and, with their remaining guns, opened fire.

In the battle that ensued between 15th and 17th September 1890, two Swahili and ten Germans lost their lives.
Read 19 tweets
Jun 8, 2023
#HistoryKeThread: Waruhiu’s Last Bow
________

From September 1952, colonial chief of the Agikuyu in Kiambu, Waruhiu Kung’u - seen here addressing his last public rally at Kirigiti on 25th August of the same year, began transferring property to his wife and children.

📷:NMG Image
The Kirigiti rally had been organized by local (Kiambu) and Kenya Africa Union (KAU) leaders led by Waruhiu and Jomo Kenyatta respectively, to denounce Mau Mau.
In the run up to the address, there had been an increasing spate of violence meted out on collaborators, notably crown witnesses or police informers, church leaders, headmen and chiefs.
Read 31 tweets
Jun 6, 2023
#HistoryKeThread: Rawson Macharia: Bribed To Frame Jomo Kenyatta
————

The colonial government was so short of evidence with which to convict Mzee Kenyatta, that they turned to a "frail little shopkeeper" - as described Rawson Macharia - the main prosecution witness. Image
During the trial, Rawson testified that Mzee was his Mau Mau oath administrator. He also gave detailed descriptions of how the oathing itself was carried out.

He described how he was stripped naked, made to drink human blood and make ritualistic movements on banana leaves.
For his testimony and subsequent conviction of Mzee Kenyatta, the colonial government rewarded him with a return trip to England, and a scholarship to undertake a 2-year public administration course.
Read 12 tweets
May 13, 2023
#HistoryKeThread 🧵: Two Forts
———

In 1890, officials of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) - which midwifed the colony that later became known as Kenya to the British government - led by Fredrick Lugard established a military frontier post at Kîawariûa. Image
Today, this is the area we generally call Dagoretti.

Over a period of a few weeks, Lugard supervised the construction of a new fort here. He later left for Buganda, leaving George Wilson in command of the new garrison.
It wasn’t long before the fort was besieged by a phalanx of Agîkûyû fighters. They were under the command of Waiyaki wa Hinga (pictured).

The siege lasted for a week and a half. The aim was to scare off Wilson and his force of a few Europeans, Nubian, Swahili & Somali fighters. Image
Read 42 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(