The House ‘mzungus’ stole from Kenyatta

By Amos Kareithi

Piles of wood chippings litter the desolate compound. The doors are ajar but there is no one to welcome a visitor. A black water pipe attached to a tap in what appears to have been a magnificent kitchen leads to a lush garden where onions and sukumawiki thrive.

A peek into the first room is an eye opener — the dirty white walls are testimony to decades of negligence.

The house is lucky to remain standing in Gatundu District Hospital compound.

The Standard on Saturday learnt this is not an ordinary house. It is a repository of Kenya’s brutal colonial past.

Former Police Commissioner Bernard Njinu. Photos: Amos Kareithi/Standard

After the land was traced, Njinu offered security to the politicians as they supervised the construction of a house to replace the demolished one.

He remembers how Kenyatta was flown from Maralal to Kahawa in a police aircraft, and later driven to Ichaweri accompanied by his wife, Mama Ngina, who was expecting Uhuru, now Gatundu South MP.

"When they arrived, there was a lot of anxiety. Some whites were not happy with him. They feared he would mobilise his supporters to oust them. The home guards, too, were angry with Kenyatta whom they had been misled to believe would never be freed. I was instructed to secure his home," he narrates.

Pay homage

The barbed wire fence erected to keep off busloads of supporters, who kept streaming into Gatundu to pay homage to their leader, was not effective enough.

"Not knowing who may harm him, I was not supposed to let in visitors.

"But Kenyatta, waving his trademark flywhisk, insisted on addressing the crowds," Njinu says.

Later in 1964, Njinu recalls being recruited into the President’s security detail. He ended up residing in the house constructed with stones from Kenyatta’s vandalised house since he was supposed to report to the President’s home every morning. "When the hospital was constructed, Kenyatta directed me to move into the house constructed with his stones," he recalls.

But did Kenyatta know the history of the house?

Duly compensated

He did but chose not to pursue the matter for he had been compensated, says Njinu.

And it was from that house that he operated for most of the 14 years he worked as member of the presidential escort.

He later rose to become commander of the unit until Kenyatta died on August 22,1978.

The house, he hopes, will be renovated and gazetted as a repository of national history.