By Lawrence Njoroge

Ndingi Mwana ‘a Nzeki has been a household name for two decades new. There is some quality of the esoteric, a mystical and almost magical aura around the name.

On Saturday, the Emeritus Archbishop of Nairobi celebrated 40 years since Pope Paul VI ordained him as a bishop in Kampala, Uganda.

The day was celebrated with mass and the launch of his biography, A Voice Unstilled.

In the book divided into 24 chapters, the authors, Waithaka Waihenya and Fr Ndikaru wa Teresia, have penned a carefully researched and well-told story of Ndingi.

The opening chapter recounts Ndingi’s ordination as bishop on August 1, 1969. The first person to congratulate him was the priest who had nearly thrown him out of the seminary 20 years earlier.

In the consequent chapters, the authors trace Ndingi’s early education, seminary formation, interlude to train as a teacher, return to the seminary, his priestly and Episcopal ministry in Nairobi, Machakos, Nakuru and his promotion as archbishop of the metropolitan see of Nairobi.

The highlights include young Ndingi’s first enrolment in Mianyani Primary School in rural Machakos. Had his father, Nzeki ‘a Ngila, failed to send the boy to school, the old man would have to pay a fine of one cow to the assistant chief.

Another significant period was Ndingi’s collaboration with Mr Moses Mudaba Mudavadi in developing schools such as Loreto High School, Limuru, when the priest served as education secretary general for Catholic Schools and Mudavadi was assistant director of education in the mid-1960s.

About 20 years later, these two friends were to lock horns during the heated dispute over the queuing method of voting.

Two of the best-documented parts of the book include chapters 12 and 14: Tempest in Nakuru and In the Eye of the Storm that cover the late 1980s and 1990s respectively. The setting is Ndingi’s confrontation with Government authorities, chiefly the late Mr Hezekiah Oyugi and the late Mr Ishmael Chelang’a.

A Voice Unstilled authors were fortunate because Ndingi made his personal diaries available. These diaries record not only daily events but also comments on significant occurrences, thus affording us a glimpse of his inner feelings on certain important matters.

Some of the prelate’s comments are quite revealing and break new ground in our knowledge of the man and goings- on in Church and country in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

It has long been assumed that when Christian leaders met President Moi in 1992 they spoke with one voice, in true ecumenical spirit. But A Voice Unstilled reveals there were sharp divisions among the bishops when they came face to face with the President (chapter 14).

Ndingi’s diary shows that the prelate was honest in recording his thoughts and feelings on various delicate matters. Sample this on Cardinal Maurice Otunga:

"I must say in all honesty and with all due respect to His Eminence that it is hard to know how much he understands, how far he is prepared to go. Does he have the courage? It seems to me No. He appears timid. He is a holy man."

The book shows why Ndingi acted and spoke the way he did. The prelate is acutely aware of his rights and obligations as a citizen of the country. In his numerous communications with Government, he states clearly that he speaks first as a citizen. Secondly, he articulates his views as a bishop.

The authors have painted a convincing portrait of a prelate who is a caring and courageous national figure, disciplined and organised in his personal life and work. We get to know, the prelate as a man who thinks outside the box in

social matters. Though a champion of African traditions, he is a moral and doctrinal conservative as evidenced by his insistence on priestly celibacy and prohibition of artificial birth regulation.

Ndingi, has countless admirers and also fierce critics. Some say he was partisan on ethnic grounds during his tenure as bishop of Nakuru and others fault him for stilling his voice when he was promoted to head the Nairobi metropolitan see.

It is true that the authors have made an attempt to describe the changed circumstances between Nakuru and Nairobi in respect of Ndingi’s style and ministry. But they have not succeeded fully in justifying why the fighting Ndingi of Nakuru was so different from the subdued prelate in Nairobi.

There is also an inconsistency that needs resolving in the narrative and that has far-reaching implications for Ndingi’s character and reputation.

In chapter 15 Ndingi clearly declined an offer of money while visiting the Vatican and reportedly told Fr John McGee, the Pope’s Secretary: "I came for the ad limina (visit), not on a begging mission."

Yet in chapter 23 the bishop seeks an appointment with President Jomo Kenyatta. Purpose? The prelate needs money to construct a church building.

The authors need to have interrogated this contradiction. All in all, the book gives new information and insights into the person of Ndingi Mwana ‘a Nzeki and his relations to Church and country.