After his release from prison on August 14, 1961, Kenya's founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was a broke man, who did not even have a house to live in, as the British had demolished his home.
Similarly, Mzee did not have a car, and would depend on Goan Fitz De Souza's 1938 Morris 8 for lifts from Gatundu to Nairobi. At times, he would wait for the bus and then walk.
However, within a short time, Kenyatta had four cars among them a Standard Vanguard given to him by Ronald Ngala and a Mercedes Benz bought by Dr Njoroge Mungai, his cousin.
The British also came together and bought him a Land Rover while Americans bought him a Plymouth Convertible, writes Fitz, who would later become his lawyer.
And when Fitz thought that he had more than he needed and asked him to donate one of his vehicles to the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party, Kenyatta's response was shocking to him.
In an article published by the Nation, Fitz says that Kenyatta decided to keep all the cars on grounds that he needed lots of vehicles to appear rich, and therefore worthy to be a leader.
"No, no. You are thinking like the Wahindis, that only Indians can drive around in big, big cars. These cars have been given to me and I think I must keep them. In any case, you know, I want you to realise one thing. Africans only respect a man with a lot of mali (wealth). If he is a poor man, they will think he is useless. You have to have a lot of hangers-on and your youth wingers going with you, and a lot of cows, houses, etc, then they’ll think, ‘Ah, he is a great leader'," he said.
Fitz says that his intention was to help party members who were suffering in regards to attending meetings, considering that most of them did not even own bicycles.
He says that a number had been depending on his car which could not do much, but Kenyatta would hear none of that.