Former Attorney General Charles Njonjo on Wednesday celebrated his 99th birthday.
Njonjo, who was the first post-independence AG, was a central player in Kenya’s politics during founding President Jomo Kenyatta's regime. He also served under former President
Daniel arap Moi but fell from grace in 1983.
Kenyatta appointed Njonjo to replace A.M.F Webb as AG in 1963.
He was accused of plotting to succeed Kenyatta when he died. This placed him at odds with other contenders from Central Kenya who felt they were better suited for the job.
During the failed coup against Moi in August 1982, some soldiers mainly from the Kenya Airforce were implicated. Njonjo's name also featured.
A commission headed by Justice Cecil Miller investigated the allegations but there
was little evidence that he was involved.
Nonetheless, he was forced to resign as an MP in 1983. He then kept a low profile and largely concentrated on his vast business empire.
Although Njonjo had a tough legal mind in his heyday, he is said to have been shy around women, which perhaps explains why he married Margaret Bryson, in 1972, at the age of 52.
In May 2015, Njonjo was asked to apologise for his continuous support of dictatorship .
In
an interview, Njonjo had spoken longingly of the
rule of Kenyatta who he said ruled the country with a 'rungu', followed by Moi who also ruled with a 'rungu',
and the Kanu one-man, one-party dictatorship that he calls “strong nation".
His remarks came after President Uhuru Kenyatta had apologised for the sins of dictatorship, torture, detention, assassinations and massacres that the regimes of his father Jomo Kenyatta, Moi and Mwai Kibaki perpetrated against Kenyans since Independence.
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