Blast from the past: Intrigues that led to first coup attempt in Kenya

President Jomo Kenyatta inspects a passing out parade mounted by the National Youth Service in Nairobi in 1964

Dramatic details have emerged of the fallout between Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta and his chief of military which led to the country’s first coup attempt in 1971.

Maj Gen Joel Ndolo, the army chief who quit after the plot was unearthed, had been grumbling about oathing in the armed forces, ammunition being given to civilians and rampant tribalism in public life, according to recently declassified American intelligence files.