Before he became president, it appears that fellow leaders were already aware that Mzee Jomo Kenyatta would be president someday, just by looking at his qualities.
According to Lee Njiru, who would later become his secretary of the press, Kenyatta began thrilling Kenyans long before he took over leadership thanks to the mystery that surrounded his life.
While he was equally popular like the likes of Jaramogi Oginga and Daniel Moi, Kenyatta was unique as nobody knew when he was born or who he went to school with.
People also did not know where he had gone to school, only that he was tough and had been to Britain and Russia, with others claiming that he had a hairy tongue and could read minds.
After his arrest by the British over his alleged links with the Mau Mau, alongside his five colleagues of the Kapenguria 6 crew, his popularity grew even more.
Njiru told Salim Amin, son of his late friend Mohammed Amin, that Moi and other top African leaders who were free visited Kenyatta at the Lokitaung Prison in 1959.
When he was finally released, Njiru says, Moi and the others organized funds and bought Kenyatta a vehicle with number plate KHA, which meant 'Kenyatta Home Again' in full.
"I remember in 1959 when he was in detention, Mzee Moi, Henry Cheboiwo and others, they went to visit him and they knew that Kenyatta would one day become President. So when he was released, Moi had organised with friends to buy him a car. So they bought him a car whose registration number was KHA, which is ‘Kenyatta Home Again’," he is quoted.
However, he added that the tribalism menace being witnessed in the country currently was already in existence before Kenyatta took over.
"You know there was that divide that leadership must stay within Mt Kenya region. So as young people, you know, we had been brainwashed that a Luo should not lead this country. And you know there is that narrative even up to now," added Njiru, a native of Runyenjes in Embu.