Thread by @MutemiWaKiama

A while back I posted that so-called top schools have done disservice to Kenya by producing top thieves & anti-Wanjiku barons & cartels. This was deliberately designed to be so by the colonial system to produce self-perpetuating system protectors.

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Thread:

Well, someone (not sure the author) produced a piece on Alliance High School and its contribution to our mess and enslavement through neocolonialism that I've just come across...

This will contribute to the midterm CAT (40 Marks)

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That Alliance High School produced some of the pioneer elites has never been in doubt. But how the ex-students later used the Alliance-Alumni connections to build a strong bond is a story that has barely been told.

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In the Alliance pioneer class of 1926, when alliance opened doors to its first students was Peter Mbiyu Koinange (School number 5) who would later on become the powerful Minister of State in the Kenyatta Presidency.

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Of the then 27 students admitted to Alliance, Koinange became the first indigenous Kenyan to acquire a master's degree.

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When Koinange was in Form Four Alliance saw the entry of another student James Gichuru (School number 67) who would later join Koinange at the high table of Kenya’s politics.

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In Gichuru’s class was also Stanley Njindo - the father of politician Kenneth Matiba, a man who would later help reshape politics in Kenya.

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It is the classroom ties that the elder Njindo had with Gichuru that saw Matiba worm his way into the elite corridors becoming a permanent secretary at the age of 28.

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Mbiyu was also a classmate of Eliud Mathu’s, the first African to join the defunct Legislative Council (Legco) and he helped him later on join State House as Kenyatta’s private secretary and comptroller.

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Here the two classmates wielded immense powers and controlled the game and the game plan.

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Another political heavyweight who emerged from Alliance in those early days was Henderson Wamuthenya who was Kenya’s first assistant minister for home affairs. Wamuthenya was a class behind Gichuru and in the same class with Mbiyu’s stepbrother John Mbiyu.

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How these ties were used to wriggle in the corridors of power can be attested to in the rise of the likes of Jackson Angaine who joined Alliance in 1934 and was a class ahead of Oginga Odinga...

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...the man who would later become one of the most radical politicians in Kenya’s political history. Odinga’s class had Daniel Wako, the father of current Attorney General Amos Wako.

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In 1937, another key figure was Charles Njonjo who had been registered as Charles Josiah, student number 415. In Njonjo’s class was his long time ally Mr Jeremiah Nyagah.

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That the two were to be good acquaintances during the Kenyatta years emanated from this classroom ties more than anything else.

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In 1939 Ngala Vidzo, later known as Ronald Gideon Ngala joined the school and his contemporaries in school included Njonjo and Nyagah.

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But surprisingly, Ngala would later become a leader of the opposition Kenya African Democratic Union (Kadu) when the likes of Nyagah supported Kanu.

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A year later, 1940, the only politician who was at Alliance was Paul Ngei, an ardent freedom fighter who would find himself later in jail alongside Jomo Kenyatta for "supporting Mau Mau.

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His class also had Bethuel Mareka Gechaga who later married Dr Njoroge Mungai’s sister Jemimah & was catapulted to the centre of big business (see Mungai story). Same class had Alexander Njoroge, who was to become State House Comptroller in Kenyatta’s days.

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Njoroge’s father, Musa Gitau, was Kenyatta’s teacher at Thogoto and his sister Edith later married Matiba who was named a PS by Kenyatta in the 1960’s. How these factors enabled the likes of Matiba and Gechaga to rise can be linked to some of those ties.

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The 1941 class at alliance also saw the entry of Robert Matano, Charles Rubia and Nathan Munoko. Munoko and Matano were to later become key figures in the ruling party Kanu and were known to be intimately close in Parliament.

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And that was the closeness that was exhibited by Dr Munyua Waiyaki and Dr Julius Gikonyo Kiano who were classmates in 1942.

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Sitting in the Kenyatta Cabinet Kiano and Waiyaki became some of the most respected politicians and schemers before they were both outgunned after Kenyatta’s death and pushed to the periphery.

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One man who also earned lots of respect in their class was David Wasawo who became a scholar and chairman of the University of Nairobi.

The year 1943 saw Alliance have Dawson Mwanyumba, who was to become one of Kenyatta’s ministers in the first Cabinet.

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Also in the same period was Ngala Mwendwa and Kitili Mwendwa – two brothers who would later carve a niche for themselves and family in the politics of Ukambani. Kitili became Kenya’s first indigenous Chief Justice while Ngala was a Member of Parliament.

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But it was the admission of Kenyatta’s daughter, Margaret as an Alliance Girls student that saw her get to know the likes of Geofrey Kareithi (1945) and Jeremiah Kiereini (1946) who were to become senior (most) civil servants in the Kenyatta government.

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Also during the same period was John Keen, a classmate of Kareithi and former Mukurweini MP, Henry Wareithi, one of the pioneer lawyers in Kenya.

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All these were ahead of Margaret and they knew her as 'Mwari wa Jomo.’ Kenyatta was at that time in London representing Kikuyu Central Association.

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But in Margaret Kenyatta’s class was Seth Lugonzo and the two worked closely in the Nairobi City Council when they were councilors.

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When Peter Gachathi entered Alliance in 1948 little did people realize that he was to become one of Kenyatta’s spokesmen. Gachathi knew Margaret & this rapport saw him gain entry into the corridors of power although he came from a poor background.

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That Gachathi and later on Koinange were to propose the appointment of Josephat Njuguna Karanja as the first University of Nairobi vice-chancellor is because Karanja was a friend of Gachathi at Alliance.

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Karanja joined Alliance when Gachathi was in Form Two & they were in the same dormitory. Also in same class with Gachathi was Shadrack Kimalel a man who would later become a diplomat & who ended his tour of duty as High Commissioner to the UK in the 1980s.

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In Karanja’s class was politician Phillip Gachoka, businessman Habel Nyamu and Joseph Mwangovya, once the Supervisor of Elections.

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In 1950 John Ithau joined Alliance. Ithau who become a Permanent Secretary for Information replacing Gachathi when he moved to Education, was to become a key figure in Kenyatta’s propaganda machine.

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That was possible because he was a year ahead of two key people-Bernard Hinga & James Kanyotu. Hinga was the Commissioner of Police while Kanyotu was in intelligence. Here the Alliance group controlled the information flow & two crucial security apparatus.

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It was the 1951 class of Hinga that also had Kenyatta’s PS for Home Affairs Kenneth Matiba, Chief pathologist Jason Kaviti, writer Rebecca Njau & scholar Nimrod Bwibo. Recently Njau helped her former classmate Matiba, write his biography titled Aiming High.

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In Kanyotu’s class was Thomas Ogada who was later to become Director of Medical Services and then ambassador and permanent representative to World Health Organisation and UN Agencies in Geneva. Such appointments would not have come without Kanyotu’s hand.

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Behind Kanyotu in the 1953 class was Eliud Mwamunga, Philip Ndegwa, James Kangwana and Bethuel Kiplagat. It was also a class that had John Khaminwa.

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Ndegwa was to become one of the pioneer Permanent Secretaries in the Kenyatta government and is known to have aided the rise of Kangwana to become director of broadcasting.

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Kiplagat rose to become an ambassador in the Moi days because of the recommendations and closeness he had with the Alliance group and more than anything Kanyotu could remember him as a Form One - mono.

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But Kanyotu had no time for two people in the 1955 class, journalist Philip Ochieng’ and novelist James Ngugi (aka Ngugi wa Thiong’o). It was through Kanyotu’s recommendation that Ngugi was detained. When Ngugi was in Form One, Kanyotu was in Form Four.

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The 1956 class had Darius Mbela and Benjamin Kipkorir and the two managed to swiftly rise during the Moi Presidency. Here it was the connections of Kipkorir that mattered.

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The 1959 class of George Anyona and (Prof) William Ochieng was one of a kind. Anyona joined the radicals at Makerere, including Ngugi, to become mavericks of the time.

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The 1960s saw students who became lawyers and included Tom Mbaluto and Timan Njugi (1961), Richard Kwach (1962) and Andrew Hayanga.

The 1961 class had the likes of Andrew Ligale, later on a permanent secretary, Japheth Kiptoon and Engineer Joel Nyaseme.

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That Simeon Lesrima, a Permanent Secretary, was able to lobby for the rise of the Green Josiah brother, Frost Josiah, to be appointed an ambassador is born out of the 1963 classroom ties at Alliance.

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Behind them was Joseph Nyagah, son of Jeremiah who was also named an ambassador to Luxembourg and the European Union.

When Nyagah was in Form Three in 1966, a student who would also help them later on, Lawi Kiplagat joined Alliance.

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In Form Two then were two noticeable students – Julius Meme and Fares Kuindwa. In the same class was a radical student James Orengo.

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Kiplagat was an insider in Moi’s kitchen cabinet and was able to influence the rise of his schoolmate Wilson Sitonik within the government. Sitonik was recently fired as head of the Treasury’s Government Information Technology.

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Another person who survived in the government structure courtesy of Kiplagat is Erastus Mwongera who was in Form Two when Kiplagat was in Form Four.

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In Form One at the time was Jeremiah Matagaro, who joined the police force and managed to rise to become a PS in the ministry of Justice.

While Matagaro was in Form Three the current Comptroller of State House Hyslop Ipu was in Form One.

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It's fair to blame Alliance for our governance foundation. They had the opportunity to set us on the right track. What is their excuse?

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This was written during the Kibaki presidency. One crucial Alliance alumni missing is Mugo Kibati. The real boys club?