The day the President almost shot dead his Cabinet Minister

 Pistol [Photo: Courtesy]

President Uhuru Kenyatta took the longest time of any Kenyan head of state to name his Cabinet at 58 days.

And even then, accusations against some nominees have dogged his appointment including the questionable academic background of Rashid Achesa Mohammed as Cabinet Secretary nominee for Sports.

While he leads in a different time from his father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta who was not encumbered by two-thirds gender rule, Uhuru can learn a few things from his Old Guy who never appointed any women (or Muslims) in his Cabinet during his 15 year rule. His Cabinet was masculine, but he ensured positions were aligned to skills and relevant qualifications.

In his 2009 memoirs, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles: My Story, former Central Bank Governor  Duncan Ndegwa recalls the case of Kung’u Karumba who had been jailed with Jomo for seven years hard labour at Lokitaung in 1952.

After independence in 1963, Kung’u demanded to be appointed District Commissioner as square reward for the seven years he crushed boulders while enduring Jomo’s wanting cooking skills when he was appointed prison cook on account of his advanced age.

 Jomo Kenyatta, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, discussing with Major General Mulinge

But ‘Burning Spear’ was firm that his government would only have qualified personnel to which Karumba retorted: “What do I need qualifications for? Mine is not to write, but to administer! I will, of course, have a literate secretary to write down my instructions.”

Indeed, of Jomo’s first 15-member Cabinet, only three ministers didn’t bear any academic degrees.  

While the first Cabinet was committed to serving the public, Ndegwa notes that, as a group, “they did not see the entire breadth of the collective goals that had been set and strategies laid to achieve them”, and not necessarily because some were of “limited scenarios when it came to thinking”.

The first Cabinet and subsequent ones were punctuated with compromise appointees — and the civil service as well— to reflect regional political balance, even as Ndegwa recalls that “ability to perform and deliver results remained the hallmark of our search for the right people”.

Though the Kenyatta administration was accused of nepotism, cronyism, corruption, political repression and self-aggrandizement, it managed to gallop a 6.6 per cent annual economic growth rate by 1970, when a shilling was a shilling, a dollar was a dollar, a pound was a pound, the Euro was a rumour and the Indian Rupee was a bad joke.

For all the work Jomo’s government did, the old lion was not tolerant of those who took fault finding as a sport. 

In the People’s Representative and the Tyrants, Koigi wa Wamwere recalls a time when Ronald Ngala, the coast political heavy weight and Minister for Constitutional Affairs and Administration was attacking Jomo  on the floor of the House.

President Kenyatta pulled a pistol from his pocket and was only restrained by Speaker Humphrey Slade from firing: “Mr Kenyatta, what are you trying to do? Please take your hand out of the pocket. This is Parliament!”

Speaker Slade also often wrote reminder letters to Jomo when he forgot his beer bills in Parliament.Besides a bill for settlement of Sh1.65 for “one small Pilsner” as Bar Charges from the Kenya National Assembly, Speaker Humphrey Slade sent him a reminder on February 19th, 1964: “You may not be aware that your Catering Account here now stands at Sh1,597.30, no payment having been made for some months past…. I should be very grateful if you could make a payment on account, as our reserves are not sufficient to carry large accounts outstanding for long.”

It was not easy trying to ethnically balance his Cabinet, comprising assorted characters, some of whom were only content to have a flag on their limos.