Inside Njonjo’s wild goose chase to marshal 125 MPs to topple Moi

Charles Njonjo employed intimidation, personal slight and arm-twisting in his attempt to marshal numbers in Parliament to pass a vote of no confidence against President Daniel Moi.

With claims of money changing hands, the former AG was out to win over 125 MPs to topple the President.

He believed he would be installed president after that. 

A report of the judicial commission of inquiry appointed by Moi to investigate Njonjo over his connections to the botched August 1982 coup shows while sure of the support of 60 MPs, Njonjo tried in vain to court 65 more.

And bribery, threats and intimidation through his acolytes as well as promises of glory were his tools of choice, the report says.

The commission had judges Effie Owuor, Cecil Miller and Chunilal Madan as the only members.

RECRUITMENT AGENTS

The report shows that Assistant Minister Jackson Kalweo, then MP for Nyambene North constituency and a trusted supporter of Njonjo, would meet some of the lawmakers to woo them.

In one instance in 1981, Kalweo met MP Lawrence Sifuna of Bungoma South constituency asked him why Sifuna showed a negative attitude towards Njonjo “who was a very powerful man.”

The report shows that Kalweo told Sifuna that “he must join Njonjo's group or he would suffer if he refused.”

“Kalweo also said that an election petition pending against him in the High Court would be thrown out, which would prove that Njonjo was a very powerful man,” the report reads.

But Sifuna, a staunch Moi man, would hear none of it, telling Kalweo off.

Kalweo also at the time had a grueling election petition against him. It was later dismissed by the courts and he paraded this as a dividend of being in Njonjo’s corner.

“Kalweo approached Sifuna on two other occasions in 1981 [and] told Sifuna that more people had joined the camp of Njonjo who was going to rule the country. Sifuna must also join to be on the safe side, and Njonjo would definitely make him an Assistant Minister,” the report said.

Kalweo cited examples of two other legislators who had agreed to join Njonjo's camp and that they would be given ministerial posts and who were later appointed as such. Sifuna, however, still maintained his anti-Njonjo stance, asserting that “his loyalty was direct to the President.”

Njonjo's recruiting agent Kalweo having proved unsuccessful, the report said, “Njonjo himself approached Sifuna and asked him why his attitude towards him was always negative.”

A fearless Sifuna would reject the overtures again to Njonjo’s face, telling him that he was not interested in joining his camp.

“Njonjo came again and asked Sifuna to see him in his office. Sifuna told him only if he had a problem concerning his ministry not otherwise.”

The report details one bizarre incident in Parliament when Njonjo went and sat next to Sifuna in the chambers and when the MP asked him why he sat next to him, “Njonjo laughed and went out.”

“He came back and sat next to Sifuna again with his hands in the outside pockets of his jacket. Njonjo pulled his hand out of his pocket and tried to push Sh100 notes into Sifuna's pocket. Sifuna asked him what he was giving him money for.

“Njonjo told him to keep quiet. Sifuna threw the money back at him saying, "I don't want your money".

Two others members saw Sifuna throwing the money back. Njonjo took back his money and went away. The two members laughed and said, "Shame! Shame!"”

In a change of tack, a resilient Njonjo enlisted Clement Lubembe, then member for Ikolomani, for the same task but in vain.

At one point, Sifuna and his ilk who refused to join the Njonjo camp had their files taken for review at CID, which was directly under Njonjo’s  office. No crime would be found linked to Sifuna.

In a nutshell, the report said, Njonio paid lip service to Moi “and pretending to be loyal to him but at the same time was engineering agents to recruit as many MPs as possible into his camp.”

“Whatever Njonjo was doing was contrary to what the President was doing.”

His other agent in the recruitment process was Francis Mutwol, a Kanu MP who represented Kerio Central and served as Kanu Parliamentary Group secretary.

MONEY CHANGED HANDS

He testified to the commission that the former AG had asked him to help persuade MPs of Kalenjin extraction to support his bid to topple Moi and gave him Sh10,000 to use in that regard.

He would request Njonjo to conduct harambees in his constituency and the former AG would land with an army helicopter in full display of power and influence. In one instance, Sh400,000 would be raised with Njonjo contributing Sh90,000, a lot of money at the time.

“….few weeks later Nionjo asked Mutwol if he had ever seen another minister going to a harambee in an army helicopter. Mutwol replied in the negative and Njonjo told him "to tell my friends and Members of Parliament to see where the light was,” the commission reported.

So a month later, Njonjo asked Mutwol what happened to the Sh10,000 he had given him to woo his Kalenjin MPs but the latter assured him that it was work in progress and that “there was no difficulty in persuading the Kalenjin MP and he could rest assured that they were on his side, even though he had done no canvassing.”

Njonjo would add him another Sh10,000 for the job.

But after no progress, Njonjo was frustrated with Mutwol, complaining that the later was only gobbling up his money with no output.

He angrily told Mutwol that he was dissatisfied because he had not seen the fruits of  Mutwol's work.

They quarreled and Mutwol left. On Budget Day in 1982, Njonjo went to Members’ Room in Parliament where Mutwol was making a telephone call.

He complained about his non-productivity but wrote down the number plate of his Mercedes Benz KVD 710, telling Mutwol that he could have it if he got the 60 MPs to back Njonjo. He was never given the car because he did not accomplish the task.

Njonjo’s dream would collapse over time as he never raised the number, despite courting many lawmakers to support his bid.