It seems that former Attorney General Charles Njonjo hated former Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga with the same vigor he hated Oginga’s backyard of Luo Nyanza.
Njonjo is believed to have been part of the Mt Kenya Mafia that stood up strongly against Oginga, and propagated the continuation of his political woes in the hands of retired President Daniel Moi.
This was after Oginga fell out with the nation’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta in 1966, resigning from his Vice Head of State position which he assumed in 1963 after their collaboration in expelling the British colonial leadership.
When Moi took over in 1978, one of his closest allies was Njonjo who was as well a very strong figure in his leadership, the man who also repeatedly advised him against Oginga who was then wallowing in political cold after being banned from elective politics.
Njonjo had also vowed to never visit the Luo Nyanza region which according to him was a haven for infections and diseases.
He never hid his hate for the lakeside region, on one occasion noting that he will never visit it lest he contracts cholera, according to a Daily Nation publication dated September 16, 2018.
And when Moi decided to rehabilitate the aging opposition figure back into elective politics in 1981, Njonjo was at it again, this time tricking him into insulting Kenyatta whom Moi admired and honored a lot.
Using Kericho parliamentarian Moses Keino who was close to Jaramogi, Njonjo had Oginga refer to the late Kenyatta as a land grabber during a tour of Mombasa.
Njonjo maximized on the remark to again land him into the cold, at a time when Moi intended to help him win back his Bondo parliamentary seat.
“If Jaramogi could insult President Kenyatta what would stop him from doing the same to President Moi,” was the argument that was taken to Moi, according to the paper, leading to Moi reconsidering his initial decision.
Oginga would later recapture his seat in 1992, two years before his death.
#historynow