By Moses Njagih and Vitalis Kimutai
Internal Security Minister George Saitoti killed in the Sunday chopper crash lived on the edge, as if agents of death were stalking him.
In and out of Parliament he appeared to wake up every day determined to outpace any potential killer walking in his shadow.
He kept the number of friends who would know where he was at any one time or those who could drop at his home to bare minimum, and was never one to be found in the city social circuit at night. In security circles he was known for sticking to his trusted security guards for years, never allowing them to be replaced probably because of the extended fear of the unknown.
Sources around him over the years, reveal that the late Kajiado North MP extended his fears to the food he ate, and let it influence where and how he travelled, and whose hands he shook. He was sick for three months.
But in his Kajiado North constituency he appeared to let loose his fears and mingle freely with his constituents. Whereas in the city and abroad his aides had to check out his food long before it was served, in Kajiado he would just pullout his pen knife, or ask an age mate for one and proceed to cut off pieces of roasted meat for himself.
But according to his former security chief for 20 years, Senior Superintendent Johnstone Koech, Saitoti’s paranoia was not without basis and actually started off with a near-fatal food poisoning experience that traumatised and dogged him to the end of his life.
“From then on, four security officers would check his food throughout the cooking and serving. He would not eat anything that had not been cleared as fit for his consumption by his security team,” said Koech.
He added: “At the time of the poisoning, I was not with him. My colleagues were with him. He is said to have developed clear signs of a serious illness and he had to be rushed to Nairobi Hospital for treatment.”
It started in February 1990 in an Indian restaurant in Nairobi’s Muthaiga area. Opinion among investigators then was that he probably ingested cyanide gas, probably laced on his food or plate. Though Kenyans were never told who wanted him dead and why, Saitoti only opened up when retired President Moi declared the killers of his then Foreign Minister Robert Ouko “are the same ones who poisoned my Vice-President”.
According to Moi the poisoning was motivated by a conspiracy to overthrow his government. According to Moi and Saitoti, the poisoning took place shortly after Ouko was assassinated.
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