Charles Njonjo’s disdain for blacks and our self-centered political elite

No doubt, the recently deceased Charles Mugane Njonjo was influenced by the effects of systemic racism. One of Kenya’s most powerful Attorney Generals, he faced discrimination on the basis of skin colour as a student in South Africa.

According to historian Godfrey Sang, “Njonjo encountered numerous racist situations in pre-apartheid South Africa. Once while travelling on a train from Durban to Fort Hare, he was forced into a goods carriage without seats and with open windows on a bitterly cold July afternoon.”

Njonjo’s unfortunate experiences seem to have created in him a pathological disdain for his fellow black Africans. According to Fitz de Sousa in his seminal book, Forward to Independence, “He (Njonjo) clearly supported Europeans more, even saying publicly on one occasion that he would never fly in a plane with an African pilot and been rumoured to use only European doctors.”

Yet Njonjo must have adjusted his prejudices to fit in with the times, consorting with the likes of Tom Mboya, even becoming the latter’s best man at his wedding. And years later, after swearing that “he would never shake hands with anybody from the Lakeside lest they infect him with cholera toxins,” Njonjo would share a meal of fish and ugali with former PM Raila Odinga at a lowly café in downtown Nairobi.

It may no longer be de rigueur to play the colour bar card but discrimination continues to exist in other forms.  In Kenya, it is along social class lines. Even as the ruling elite try to deny it, it is obvious that pedigree is required for admittance into the stratosphere of leadership. It is also quite plain that those from “the right side of the tracks” are quickly forgiven for their excesses even as fall guys pay the ultimate price.

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Coup plotters

Take for instance the 1982 coup against the then President Daniel arap Moi. Both Raila and Njonjo were implicated. Raila served a stint in detention whereas Njonjo was eventually hounded out of office and declared a traitor.

He was subsequently pardoned by the president. Other coup plotters were not so lucky. Relative unknowns like Hezekiah Ochuka became the face of the coup. He was taken through the motions of a trial and subsequently executed.

No wonder the political elite do not countenance discussions on social classes. They label them incendiary and divisive, yet they are an accurate reflection of Kenyan society. There are rules and regulations that are applied or exempted according to one’s station in life. For example, despite the existence of a court prohibiting the same, Covid-19 vaccine mandates were applied across select shopping malls last week.

Noteworthy is that these were high-end malls patronised by the expatriate community and society’s elite. Around the same time as Ministry of Health officials were enforcing the mandates, super-spreader political rallies were taking place in Kakamega, negating the same mandates. The subliminal message is that the elite deserve protection from Covid-19 whereas the hoi polio, who make the bulk of the electorate, are dispensable.

This is how one knows who the ruling elite are. Like Njonjo, they loathe local apparel and resort to expensive shopping jaunts overseas. They eschew local hospitals, preferring costly treatment abroad even for the smallest of ailments. They keep the bulk of their wealth in offshore accounts and invest heavily in properties overseas. These actions betray a lack of faith in black-run systems and utter confidence, even if misplaced, in white-led institutions.

Njonjo mellowed over the years to the extent that he made attempts to atone for the blunders of his early years. And this should be the take-home for every politician of note; that though powerful leaders can silence the voices they do not wish to hear, they cannot wish away the realities they describe.

Such realities include the affirmation of our Kenyan identity and pride in who we are as a nation. No colour bar, no social distinction! Black skin, white masks? Save that for the apartheid museum!

Mr Khafafa is a public policy analyst