Thread by @HistoryKE

#HistoryKeThread: Happy Birthday Charles Njonjo

Later this week, the man referred to as The Duke of Kabeteshire, Charles Mugane Njonjo, will be turning 100 years old.

I salute the man - for the many moments, events and quotes that his life etched on Kenya’s history, and for turning a century old. There are not many politicians, ordinary senior citizens let alone, who get privileged enough to live this long.

Along the treacherous path of his long political and corporate life, Charles Njonjo arguably won as many allies as he made enemies. Many of them are long gone.

But memories of the man are not gone. Top-of-my-head, let me share a few tidbits in no particular order of the man sometimes referred to as The Duke of Kabeteshire.

In 1964, determined to clip Oginga Odinga’s clout, Charles Njonjo and the late Tom Mboya pushed for a constitutional amendment. The amendment transformed Kenya into a Republic headed by a President, who had both head of state and head of government powers.

Charles Njonjo got married at 52, in 1972. His wife, the former Miss Margaret Bryson, was the daughter of missionaries he had emigrated to Kenya in the 1930s.

These are pics from the couple’s engagement and wedding day respectively.

If Amos Wako was the longest-serving Attorney General, Charles Njonjo was, according to Constitutional Law expert, Prof. Yash Pal Ghai, the most influential Kenyan to have ever served in that docket.

His skills as a lawyer were limited. After completing studies at Alliance High School, Charles Njonjo studied law in South Africa’s Fort Hare University and Gray’s Inn in London. But he wasn’t known to have practiced law as an advocate.

Charles Njonjo was feared by judges. In some cases, he “guided” them on how to resolve cases, especially those in which he had interest, or those in which a certain outcome of political expediency was preferred.

Chief Justice Arthur Denis Farrell was reportedly sacked by Charles Njonjo for reducing by half the sentence that had been meted out on former freedom fighter Bildad Kaggia.

Historian Charles Hornsby alleges that Charles Njonjo ordered the detention of Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o because the latter had, in his book, Petals of Blood, criticized capitalism.

In 1973, Charles Njonjo banned the Jehovah’s Witness Christian sect.

In what became to be known as the “Njonjo Affair”, the former AG faced a protracted Commission of Inquiry shortly after the 1982 coup attempt. He was accused of plotting to bring down President Moi’s government “with the assistance of South African and Israeli mercenaries....”

Among Njonjo’s lead lawyers during the trial - a.k.a. The Njonjo Commission of Inquiry, was a young lawyer, Paul Muite (it was the Njonjo case that arguably threw Paul Muite into the limelight).

President Moi later pardoned Njonjo. Besides, Moi must have been indebted to the former AG. Shortly after Mzee Kenyatta’s death in 1978, it was Njonjo who stood up to the powerful “Kikuyu Mafia” and helped the former teacher from Kabartonjo ascend to the presidency.

Njonjo led a quiet life after The Njonjo Commission of Inquiry. But not before he took a swipe at critics who accused him of being a traitor.

“Had I planned one (coup), he said to them, “I’d have succeeded”.

Sometime during the sunset years of Mzee Kenyatta, Njonjo warned Kenyans against “imagining the death of the president”. This was an act of treason punishable by death, he said.

Many lawyers will argue that Njonjo had mischievously misinterpreted the law.

In 1998, former President Moi appointed Charles Njonjo to the Chair of the Board of Kenya Wildlife Service (Dr. Richard Leakey was named Director).

Charles Njonjo is a staunch Anglican Christian. On a few occasions he has clashed with Anglican Church of Kenya’s leadership especially on matters to do with church traditions.

In 2007, for example, he lashed out at Kenya’s Anglican leader Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi for agreeing to institute reforms that would allow youth to sing and dance in church. Charles Njonjo was opposed to this.

I, too, love tradition.

Many happy returns, Mzee.

*who had emigrated*