The judge who jailed Uhuru’s father

Judge Ransley Samuel Thacker

• Judge Ransley jailed Jomo Kenyatta to seven years in prison with hard labour in Kapenguria
• The judge is said to have been bribed Sh 2.8 million for him to find Kenyatta guilty
• The trial for the Kapenguria six was moved from Nairobi to Kapenguria wasteland to ensure no street protests

He goes down in history as one of those corrupt judges whose dwindling fortunes saw him jail nationalists in exchange for a comfortable retirement.

Judge Ransley Thacker became more famous for jailing President Uhuru’s father in Kapeguria after sentencing him to seven years hard labour in 1953. Jomo Kenyatta was jailed alongside the famous Kapenguaria Six: Kung’u Karumba, Fred Kubai, Bildad Kaggia, Achieng Oneko and Paul Ngei. They were falsely accused of ‘managing the Mau Mau’ which Kenyatta had all along denounced.