How Uhuru’s barefoot dance prompted Jomo Kenyatta to buy shoes for pupils

Mugo Karuga was the designated driver of one of the vehicles assigned to Kenya’s first President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and often drove Uhuru to school.

In an interview with a local daily, Karuga described Uhuru as playful and sporty, recalling one incident where the young boy almost embarrassed his father.

Children from a school in Central Kenya had been invited to Gatundu to entertain Mzee Kenyatta but they did not have shoes.

"As the children embarked in a mass choir to entertain the President, I saw the young Uhuru rush to the dais, whispered to his father, and immediately he removed his shoes and joined the choir," he narrated. 

Later, Mzee ordered Karuga to take the pupils for shopping to the nearest Bata shop where each got a pair of shoes. 

"Had Uhuru not done what he did, perhaps his father would not have noticed or seen the need to have the children fitted with shoes," he said.

The driver further described Uhuru as kind due to the fact that he ensured he was always served a decent meal from the family kitchen despite the fact that he was occasionally assigned duties at the main gate.

"If there is something I miss, it is those delicious meals the First Family used to be served.

"My young friend would never let me go hungry while manning the gate, he would always ensure that the cooks served me from the family kitchen,” he recalled.