The Duke of Kabeteshire, Charles Njonjo, couldn't marry a Kabete woman

Njonjo got married rather late in life, on November 20, 1972 at the age of 52, following pressure from his parents and President Kenyatta. [File, Standard]

Charles Njonjo, the former Attorney General never intended to marry an African girl, let alone a woman from Kabete where he was born in 1920.

Njonjo, a member of the Kenya Bachelor's Club, later married Margaret Bryson in 1972.

Jomo Kenyatta as President was getting uneasy as his legal advisor had no wife at 50.

Duncan Ndegwa, Kenya's first head of the civil service informs us in his 2009 bio, 'Walking in Kenyatta Struggles,' that good old Jomo thoroughly enjoyed the sideshows starring the Attorney General and Margaret Wanjiru Koinange, Kenya's then Matron-in-Chief.

Wanjiru Koinange grew up next to the Njonjos in Kabete and was smitten by the dapper AG with a penchant for lunchtime wine sessions while working barefoot in his office.

While at State House, Kenyatta would put the black telephone receiver on his ear and pretend Wanjiru Koinange was on the line enquiring whether Charles Njonjo was around, much to his discomfiture.