Eighty years later, Jeevanjee legacy lives on

Jeevanjee Gardens being opened by the Duke of Connaught courtesy of the Jeevanjee family

In February last year, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero officially launched an ambitious project aimed at turning Nairobi’s Jeevanjee Gardens into a modern, community-friendly recreational park. This will involve a three-phase renovation to the tune of Sh30 million.

The renovation will see Jeevanjee have features like Wi-Fi, a children’s playground, an amphitheatre, a pergola and stands for temporary exhibitions.

So far, the pathways have already been paved, the entrances remodelled and the night lighting is drawing crowds who come to socialise or just wait for the traffic rush to subside as well as roller-skaters who make good use of the paved pathways.

Perhaps that is not exactly what Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee had in mind when in 1904, he constructed it. In 1906, he donated it to the people of Nairobi. But all he wanted was a recreational park that could contribute to Nairobi’s vision of being “the city in the sun”.

The five-acre park, bordered by Muindi Mbingu Street, Moi Avenue, Monrovia and Mokhtar Daddah streets, has bougainvillea and jacaranda trees, several sculptures, including one of Queen Victoria and Jeevanjee himself and a bench called “Birth in the Garden” as part of the professionally landscaped grounds maintained by the Nairobi City County and well-wishers called “Friends of Jeevanjee”.

Having the park as one of the few green spaces gracing Nairobi City has not been easy. On more than one occasion, it has been faced with extinction when the then Nairobi City Council in collaboration with development partners planned in 1991, and later in 2007, to develop it by constructing in its place a multi-storey parking lot, bus terminus, markets, theatres and shopping malls.

Zarina Patel, Jeevanjee’s granddaughter, became instrumental in shelving those plans. And she is happy that her grandfather’s dream of a greener city is being honoured through the renovation project being carried out jointly by the Nairobi City County’s Safer Nairobi Initiative, the UN-Habitat and the Project for Public Spaces.

“Jeevanjee Gardens, which I was able to “save” in 1991 is now being developed to become a community-friendly area as part of a programme which aims to develop 66 green spaces in Nairobi,” says Patel.

For people like Patel, this is one of the best ways to honour Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee for the contribution he made towards the well-being of the Kenyan society. Jeevanjee’s philanthropic generosity can be seen in many areas, but most obvious is the Jeevanjee Gardens.

Born in 1856 in Karachi, Pakistan, to a traditional Bohra Shia Islamic family where education was almost entirely centered on religion and basic education, Jeevanjee was the eldest of four sons and two daughters and his father supported his family working as a horse and cart driver.

After the death of his father, Jeevanjee left home and worked throughout India and then Australia where he hawked spices and other South Indian produce. It is while in Australia that he met British officials who informed him of trading opportunities in East Africa.

When Jeevanjee sailed into Mombasa by dhow in 1890, he was already an established businessman and used the opportunity to open another branch of his Karachi headquartered company, A.M. Jeevanjee & Co., in Mombasa. In Kenya, the company provided road building, construction and transportation, in addition to providing equipment and other goods through the port. Kenya had been identified as an untapped land of interest by Britain, but as the British government was focused on pursuing interests in South Africa, it granted the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) a charter authorising it to administer and develop British East Africa (Kenya and Uganda). The IBEAC was also tasked with building the Kenya-Uganda Railway line from 1896-1905.

So it was that in 1895, at the age of 39, A.M. Jeevanjee of Karachi, as he was popularly known, was awarded a contract by the IBEAC to supply labourers to build the railway line. He quickly sourced “coolies” (indentured casuals) from the Punjab region of British India and the first group to arrive were 350 men and the number grew over the next six years to reach just under 32,000.

The labourers were of different faiths — Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims — and had different skill sets ranging from manual workers to artisans, bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, tailors, motor mechanics and electrical fitters.

By the turn of the 20th century Jeevanjee was estimated to be worth £4 million (Sh620 million) and it is estimated that at one time, despite discriminatory land purchasing and occupation restrictions, he owned 70 per cent of Nairobi.

Without question, Jeevanjee played a large role in the growth of Nairobi, supplying much capital as an investor or contractor to develop the town’s infrastructure and he expanded business interests from Mombasa-Nairobi into the interior. His firm built government offices, railway stations and post offices along the Mombasa-Kisumu Railway, plus many other community facilities and structures.

“In Nairobi, AMJ built the Law Courts, Jeevanjee Market, Ainsworth’s House on the present National Museum’s site, Ainsworth’s office, Moi Primary School opposite Jeevanjee Gardens, the Survey Department Buildings next to Central Police Station, the first Nairobi Club at the present the NSSF Building site, and Jeevanjee Gardens,” says Zarina Patel.

In Mombasa, he built the Bohra Mosque and Jeevanjee Villa, as well as slaughter houses, police lines, kerosene oil stores, laundry facilities, livery stables, and more in smaller townships regionally.

In 1902, to counter racism socially and in the press and responding to the increasing segregation of the Asian community, Jeevanjee founded the weekly African Standard, now Kenya’s oldest newspaper, in Mombasa.

He was outspoken regarding prevailing colonial policies, which denied access to the same opportunities enjoyed by the European settlers such as farming the fertile highlands as well as discriminatory taxation, education, municipal services and residential and commercial segregation.

Jeevanjee sold the paper in 1905 to two British businessmen who changed its name to the East African Standard, printed it daily, and in 1910, moved operations to Nairobi. Under new management, it promoted the rights of Kenya’s colonialist white settlers. Thereafter, the paper changed ownership several times and is currently called The Standard.

In addition to founding The Standard, Jeevanjee and the Asian community realised they would have to come together in an organised fashion against the discrimination of the European white settlers in order to have a right of say in the management of Kenyan affairs.

In 1905, Jeevanjee was the first non-white person appointed to the Legislative Council (Legco), which was created to champion the rights of Kenya’s settlers. In 1906, he led the Mombasa Indian Association and in 1914 co-founded the East African Indian National Congress.

Jeevanjee stayed politically active throughout his life, also partnering with the African leadership, for mutual benefits. He continued to champion the recognition of Asian contributions to East Africa and shone the spotlight on the discrimination faced by the Asian and African communities. Today, Kenya enjoys a vibrant Kenya-Asian community relationship whose members are leaders of industries, politics and all aspects of development regionally as can be seen in businesses such as across-border supermarket chain Nakumatt and Bidco Oil Refineries.

Asked about the origins of the Jeevanjee Gardens, Patel responded: “Commissioner John Ainsworth wanted to build a garden in Nairobi. He requested Delamere (also a pioneer figure in Kenya) to donate a tiny fraction of his land at Chester House. Delamere told Ainsworth that if he touched his land, Delamere would set fire to the Lands office. A.M. Jeevanjee stepped in to donate part of his land near the bazaar and then built the garden.”

Not a man of much education but a man of much courage and vision, Jeevanjee died on May 2, 1936 of a heart attack. Although gone, his presence is still felt in Kenya today.