Desai House: Kenya's cradle of democracy goes down

This is the nugget which must go under the hammer. It is the crucible of Kenya’s history. Here the radicals, the moderates and the royalists secretly met. But all that is over. Like a log used to cross dangerous waters but useless now, the nondescript Desai House with all its history and memorabilia must give way to modern city flats.

And like its owner, the unsung liberation icon Jashbhai Motibhai Desai, who turned his house in Parklands, Nairobi — at the crossroad of Kusi Lane and First Avenue Road — into a home for all, will now be erased and forgotten by future generations.

Ironically in life, Desai had dedicated his energies to resolving disputes and freeing men from shackles of colonialism, believing Kenyans of all races were born free and ought to integrate without any man-made barriers.

It was in his house that Bildad Kaggia was yanked out from under Desai’s bed in 1952 and delivered to a colonial government that later detained him for over 10 years in Kapenguria.

Kaggia was not the only politician to visit Desai House.

India’s Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi had on different occasions visited Desai before they rose to power and so had Jomo Kenyatta, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Kaunda and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

Ironically, aristocrats too paid homage to Desai, and enjoyed his serene garden as their wives sipped English tea as they chitchatted about the country’s destiny.

A young Charles Njonjo and Jeremiah Kiereini as well as those who played both sides such as senior Chief Koinange wa Mbiyu treated the Second Avenue address as a second home.

It is during such serene moments that secret letters to British MPs were sneaked to the House from where they were secretly delivered to the Indian High Commission, which sent them to India in diplomatic bags for onward transmission to London, bypassing colonial officers in Nairobi. 

Kenya's first Vice President, Oginga Odinga, learnt his first political lessons inside the house in 1944 where Desai instilled political bravery while Mwai Kibaki as a student was also schooled about colonialism in this same house.

During Desai's memorial service, Kibaki once reminisced "When we came to know him (Desai), John Keen and myself, it was in 1948. I was in high school and I only came to Nairobi... and then we were introduced to Desai, "where he asked, "Why are you colonised.”

Desai had bequeathed the house to his grandchildren Dipal Pulling, Sandeep Rajni, Niranjan Jashbhai and Kevit Subash Desai but a major row erupted in 2004, leading to a suit where some of the joint owners wanted the property sold and the proceeds shared among them.

The beneficiaries cannot agree and now the Environment and Lands Court has ordered that this house be sold by public auction in the next 45 days in an open market for not less than Sh412 million.