Disclaimer: Long story but relevant.
Kenya's history is replete with interesting stories of power struggles, defiance, vengeance, bravery, principalities and forgiveness.
One such story is that of GG Kariuki, a man who at 70 is said could easily stand on one foot and raise the other to his face. I will summarize his encounter as read from another source.
So courageous was he that he once told Mzee Kenyatta, "Some of us are young and will live long enough to eat bananas growing on your forgotten grave long after you are dead."
And the Mzee simply told him that he was a tiny tick on an elephant's skin who he could 'siaga siaga' between his fingers until he is forgotten by Kenyans.
GG was once a trusted friend of KANU but later fell out after the 1982 attempted coup on mere suspicion that he supported. They would actually ride in one vehicle with Moi and Charles Njonjo, the Attorney General at that time who had presidential ambitions and saw Moi as a "passing cloud". Njonjo is said to have used his position to sideline those he considered to be standing in his way and this included GG himself.
At one time after GG fell out with KANU, Moi was going to Nyahururu to issue peasant farmers with title deeds. GG wondered whether to attend or not. He finally decided that it was better to attend and be chased away rather than to be viewed as a defiant and rude man who contemptuously snubbed an important function of the President.
While at the function,Yusuf Haji, then the PC for Rift Valley and Provincial police officer told him he was unwanted. So GG went to his house, not far from the grounds, and watched the proceedings from there through binoculars.
Moi arrive, was welcomed and after a few pleasantries he asked where GG was. He was told that GG was around but had left and might be coming back. The Oldman ordered the PC and the PPO to fetch him. A police Mercedes Benz then dashed to GG's house, all the while GG watching and wondering what he had done for president Moi to treat him like an outcast for two decades. GG was convinced that they had come to take him to detention, so he changed to warm clothes then welcomed the gentlemen. The PPO saluted him and said, "The President has asked that you attend his event and sit with him in the VIP pavilion!" GG melted with elation knowing the walls of his political prison were crumbling. He changed his clothes and went to meet a man he respected and whose friendship he cherished, a man he had not met for 17 years! Once at the venue he was escorted to where Moi was sitting. He bowed and shook his hand and Moi simply told him: "Karibu, imekwisha"
After the event he was invited for lunch at the president's ranch, not far from the venue. In a matter of hours, things changed from watching Moi through the binoculars to smelling the President's cologne and after-shave.
Once at the well-kept compound, Moi walked over and greeted him and his family warmly. Then Moi took him by the hand to a corner next to his house away from family and said, "Mimi ni mwanume wa Afrika, siwezi kujumuisha watoto na bibi wa yule mwanaume tunapigana naye. Pia mimi ni Mkalenjin na sisi wanaume wakipigana, huwezi kumpiga yule kama ameanguka. Unashika mkono na kumuinua. Vita itaendelea kama hajakubali ameshindwa. Sisi hapana pigana vita kama wanawake.
All the while, GG held on to the peels of oranges they were eating because he didn't dare drop them in the compound and spoil the day. Moi just told him to throw them towards the fence and proceeded thus, "You are my friend; I could have done worse. It has been a long time and that is in the past now, GG." He was given an appointment at statehouse that sealed the new friendship.
At one time he was attacked at a presidential rally in Nyahururu by Kihika Kimani saying: "We have cursed this man, he will never go back to Parliament even to relieve himself in the VIP toilets." But Kihika died and GG remained active in politics until he died at 81 as a senator.
That was the good president Moi who ruled for a record 24 years.
What am I saying?
Lessons in comments .
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