Jaramogi marked a wanted man after ditching Jomo’s Kanu

Predictably, on April 14, 1966, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga formally tendered his resignation as Vice-President.

Jaramogi explained briefly why he had delayed his resignation for one month since the Limuru fiasco by revealing the delay was deliberate and strategic.

It was intended to make the public assess the significance and implications of the Kanu delegates’ conference, so that whatever action he took thereafter, would not be viewed as having been made without consideration.

Odinga warned Kenyatta: "The present enemy is more ruthless and inhuman than the open colonialism we fought against.

He described himself as "an unwanted person" by his colleagues. He saw it fit to no longer be part of a government "ruled by underground masters serving foreign interests and who had chosen to ignore the voice of the people."

Four days after Jaramogi’s resignation from Government as VP, 27 MPs and nine senators resigned from the ruling party.

In his brief resignation statement, Oneko said: "I have waited too long to be dropped from the Cabinet and have now decided to quit with no apologies or regrets to make."

Soon after their resignation, the MPs crossed the Floor in the National Assembly and immediately sought recognition in the House as the Official Opposition.

They duly notified the Speaker of the House, Hon Humphrey Slade of their intentions.

General election

Consequently, with overwhelming Kanu support, Parliament passed a law requiring any MP who resigns to join another party, to go back and re-contest the seat with a ticket of his or her new party.

All those MPs who had left Kanu to join Jaramogi’s KPU were therefore forced to resign and contest for their seats on a KPU sponsorship against Kanu candidates. This resulted in what in 1966 came to be called "the little general election."

The ruthless "underground masters" who successfully engineered his ouster from the ruling party did not expect to stop at that.

In his memoirs, The Reds and the Blacks, the then US Ambassador to Kenya, William Attwood, explained how the US favoured and worked with Kanu against Jaramogi and his associates.

Kanu won no fewer than 20 of the 30 seats, which had been contested. The opposition tasted, in full, the bitter pill of "rebelling from `Government" during the campaign rallies.

Jaramogi’s movements and those of his associates thereafter became a special task for the Kenya Special Branch (Police Secret Service), with round-the-clock surveillance.

He could not even meet a close friend or relative without the Government targeting such a person as being subversive.

In April 1966, the Government was alarmed when the media reported that Jaramogi had met Sheikh Hussein, a prominent Tanzanian businessman with alleged powerful political connections there.

The meeting allegedly took place at a secret location in Shimba Hills, Taita Taveta District.

Coming hot on the heels of that accusation, Jaramogi was also accused of having met two Tanzanian ministers, Sheikh Abdul Rahma Mohammed Babu, minister for Commerce and Co-operatives and Michael Kamaliza, Minister for Labour. Dar-es-Salaam denied that the two Tanzanian ministers met Jaramogi.

The Government did not limit its attack to the KPU party and its supporters alone. It also put pressure on certain foreign embassies it considered sympathetic to the Opposition. It particularly targeted the Chinese and Russian embassies.

In January 1967, some thugs, believed to be Kanu goons, went to the Information Window of the Chinese embassy on Woodlands road, Hurlingham, Nairobi and smashed the cover glass of the notice board.

The embassy officials were infuriated and accordingly cabled their home government for direction. The direction was cabled back almost immediately, with a strong warning to the Kenya Government.

It stated in part: "This incident is a gross insult to the Chairman Mao Tse Tsung and the Red Guards. It is a grave provocation to the 700 million Chinese people and an encroachment on the sovereignty of the people of China, as well as the security of the Chinese Embassy."

National security

The Kenyan Government immediately rejected China’s accusations, asserting that: "The Government of Kenya and its people accept no responsibility whatsoever for the breaking of the window outside the wall of the Chinese Embassy."

At this point in time, Kanu leaders had indeed become paranoid to the extent that anyone associating or consulting with Jaramogi was regarded a threat to national security.

It was against this backdrop that Odinga’s Personal Secretary, Mrs Caroline Okello Odongo, was arrested and detained in early 1967. Predictably, no reason was given for the detention.

The Government continued to be rough, and sometimes dirty, in blackmailing KPU supporters, engineering resignations and defections. Kenyatta himself led the onslaught against KPU, calling it all sorts of names and branding it as a clandestine organisation.

"When speaking as a leader of the Government I am mild, but when speaking as a leader of the ruling party I can be kali (ferocious)…if anybody dares to spoil the party that fought for uhuru, he will be dealt with firmly…we shall crush him into powder." Kenyatta warned.

"The time for mercy is over. There is total war on KPU."

On February 17, 1967, the Vice-President of KPU Bildad Kaggia was arrested and a month later, dragged and locked up in a police cell in Kisii without an option of a bail.

Kaggia was brought before Resident Magistrate J O Nyarangi and jointly with another KPU official Gogo Ochok, was charged with unlawful assembly contrary to section 5 of the Public Order Act.

On April 18, 1968, the two were sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. High Court Judge, Justice Farel reduced the sentence to six months, on appeal.

In January 1967, Kaggia was ambushed in Thika where he was confronted by a mob of 50 Kanu thugs who beat him senseless.

However, he was able to identify one of the assailants as Arthur Wanyoike, Kenyatta’s chief bodyguard.

In late March 1968, Jaramogi was stopped from travelling to Boston, US, in response to invitation to address a Boston University Students’ Symposium.

He was to deliver a keynote address, The meaning and Role of Revolutions as seen in Newly Independent Africa Nations.

He proceeded to the airport where KPU supporters had turned-up to see him off, but he was blocked and his travel documents confiscated by immigration officials.

One Ochieng Owano, a resident of Boston, subsequently read Jaramogi’s speech.

Peaceful revolution

In the speech, Jaramogi philosophised the duplicity of leaders in many African (Asian and Latin American) states, and how the ruling class and few of their associates benefited financially while the blood of the nominally independent country was being sucked directly to metropolitan capitals.

Jaramogi stressed on self reliance for the new African states, saying: "Whatever the magnitude of help from abroad, Africa’s peaceful revolution will only lead to a violent one at a future date."

— Excerpts Compiled by Stephen Makabila