For seven years that I covered Daniel arap Moi's presidential visits to Nyanza and Western province as a Bureau Chief it was not only exciting and challenging, but very illuminating as well. Like everyone attending the functions, I sang the national anthem both in English and Kiswahili at every function more times than I did in primary and secondary school combined.
All official presidential functions started with the national anthem sang and played by the Kenya Police Band and/or school or church choirs as the flag-bearer raised the national and presidential standard to signify the presence of the Head of State and of the Head of Government as per the Kenyan Constitution.
For some peculiar reasons, Moi had a soft spot for the two regions and would regularly attend government and Kenya African National Union (KANU), the ruling party's functions, school activities; church services and harambees (funds drive).
I still vividly recall one of my first assignments to cover the President, whose local name was Wuod Odongo (son of Odongo) in Western region when he toured the area to "receive five Ford Asili Members of Parliament" who had defected to Kanu.
By then, the three leaders of the Opposition Kiharu MP and former Cabinet Minister, Stanley Njindo Matiba, former Vice President and Othaya MP, Mwai Kibaki, and former Vice-President and Bondo MP, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, were still recovering from losing the 1992 General Elections to Moi, who had doubled as the Baringo Central MP.
The parliamentary results were Kanu with 122 MPs against the Oppositions 78 was no match for the ruling party. Ford Asili had 31 MPs and its rival; Ford Kenya had 30 MPs elected. Moi exploited the opportunity by starting a “Kanu-Ford Kenya cooperation pact,” to hit back at Matiba’s bitter rejection of Kanu’s victory by luring their MPs to decamp, leading to Ford Kenya’s leader being declared the Official Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
Between the August 1993 polls and August 1994, Matiba’s party lost five MPs and several councillors in quick succession. The defectors were Nicodemus Khaniri of Hamisi followed by Apili Wawire (Lugari), Japheth Shamallah (Shinyalu), Benjamin Magwaga (Ikolomani) and Javan Onami (Lurambi).
Ford Kenya was not spared, especially after its founder Odinga passed on in January 1994, and his successor Saboti MP, Michael Kijana Wamalwa, took a strong anti-Kanu stand, thanks to the so-called Young Turks like Raila Odinga, Kiraitu Murungi, James Orengo, Paul Muite, Gitobu Imanya, Farah Mohammed among others. Three Ford Kenya MPs were targeted, they were: former banker Charles Owino Likowa (Migori), former Kanu Youth Secretary, Tom Obondo (Ndhiwa), and former Ministry of Health officer, Ochola Ogura (Nyatike).
So, when Moi managed to sweet talk the five rebel Ford Asili MPs to decamp to Kanu, Jaramogi automatically became the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, according to the Constitution and the Standing Orders.
Back in my office at Nation Bureau in Kisumu town, my News Editor, Mutegi Njau, tipped me of the planned mass defections. I prepared and hit the road running to cover the historic event. I summoned our driver, Hussein, and one of the photojournalists, Baraka Karama, and asked them to prepare the bureau car and camera respectively for the marathon trip.
Initially it sounded like a joke, but when we joined Moi's convoy in Lugari, the Head of Presidential Press Service (PPS) boss, Lee Njiru and Controller of State House, Joseph Lokorio confirmed to my counterpart at East African Standard Newspapers Ltd, Haroun Wandalo, that the MPs had unofficially defected during a night meeting at State House Nairobi and we're waiting to formalise and announce it in public in their respective constituency as a public relations move.
From Lugari, we drove in a convoy of over 100 cars to Lurambi, then Shinyalu and passed by Butere, whose MP, Joseph Martin Shikuku, declined to defect, but was whispered to have worked behind the scene to make it a reality.
Shikuku was the Ford Asili Secretary General, and had previously held the same post in Ford Kenya before Matiba and Odinga publicly disagreed on who will be its presidential flag-bearer and formed their respective political parties. That was on the eve of the 1992 second multi-party General Elections, after Moi gave in to pressure to allow the repeal of section 2 (A) of the constitution to reinstate a multi-party-political system, when Kibaki, who had been demoted from VP to Minister for Health, defected from Kanu and formed Democratic Party of Kenya (DP).
That was my first encounter with the trappings of power, misuse of public office and taking the public and voters for granted. Among the who-is-who in an out of government, especially among the Luhyas, joined the Western Province (since renamed as Western Region) campaign trail and dished out handouts in broad daylight in the presidential convoy as Moi crisscrossed Western Kenya.
Culture of impunity and arrogance was in the air as Zacchaeus Chesoni who was a former high court judge and chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya led the Kanu brigade. Others were Cabinet ministers, Permanent Secretaries, parastatal heads and Kanu national and regional officials who adorned the mandatory Kanu badge on their lapel with the party leader and Cockrel symbol on it to match and show that they were true “Nyayo followers.”
The daylong event resembled a Christmas function, as the ‘The Professor of Politics’ held road meetings in the five constituencies, gave out handouts to school heads, women and youth groups, traditional and church choirs who sang and danced in his praise. Nyayo, as he was nicknamed, used the occasions and captive audience to shower Kanu with praise and ridicule the Opposition saying: “Siasa mbaya, maisha mbaya (bad politics leads to bad life)!”
The mostly earth road route was lined by regular and Administration Police officers with the support of their counterparts from National Youth Service (NYS) and Kanu Youth-wingers dressed in red shirts and black trousers or skirts.
As journalists, we were put on our toes as we waited for the big catch: Ford Asili Secretary General, but that was never to be. The brand-new white Nissan Patrol, according to his critics, was a gift from Moi for “o job well done” fishing for defectors from his party as his boss, Matiba boycotted Parliament, rejected the 1992 presidential elections and launched a “Moi Must Go!” campaign.
We later covered the five by-elections with backing from Nation Centre, where Senior Reporter, Eric Shimoli, led the team. Kanu swept all the seats in the by-elections as was expected with Lugari MP being accused of officiating at the most expensive by election in the country’s history.
Next by election I covered was in Ndhiwa in Nyanza Province (Region) following the defection to Kanu by Tom Obondo at State House Nakuru, where he was accompanied by several councillors from the then Homa Bay County Council, and his father. By coincidence, the MP was a family friend and a former Kenyatta University collegemate of my elder brother, Ken Cainan Orlale, and I had covered him in Parliament during my stint as a parliamentary reporter.
When I met Obondo on one of the stairways in the august House a day after he had defected and asked him to clarify, he arrogantly and sarcastically responded saying: “You don’t know politics like me! My Ndhiwa people are cheap and I will buy them with money to ensure I am re-elected in the forthcoming by-election!
So, when I was transferred and promoted to be the Nation Kisumu Bureau Chief the following month, one of my first assignment was to apply for an imprest and set off to Ndhiwa to cover the hotly contested campaigns pitting Kanu’s Obondo against Ford Kenya’s Joshua Orwa Ojode, who was a greenhorn and was making his first attempt in politics.
On arrival with our driver, Vincent Elly Odhiambo, and photographer, Baraka Karama, we met our Homa Bay Nation Correspondent, John Oywa, and had a meal and drink as we laid strategy and work plan. In order to avoid being accuse of being biased because my father, Enos Seth Orlale, was the Homa Bay County Council chairman and Councillor for Lambwe West, which borders with Ndhiwa, we decided with Oywa, to switch our coverage of the by election campaign of the Kanu and the Ford Kenya candidates every day.
The big names backing the candidates on the ground were Kanu’s Cabinet Minister, Dalmau’s Otieno, who doubled as a Nominated MP, neighbouring Ndhiwa, backed by former Karachuonyo MP, Lazarus Amayo, who was the Homa Bay Kanu chairman. On the one hand, and Ford Kenya Team was led by Rongo MP, Polo Piech, who doubled as uncle to Dalmau’s; others were Langata MP, Raila Odinga and James Orengo (Ugenya).
For the next 30 days, it was drama, intrigue and sideshows as the Kanu and his Ford Kenya criss-crossed the expansive constituency trying to lure voters using every trick in the book. Moi kept off the area considered an opposition zone and supported Obondo through Minister Otieno and Kanu branch chairman, Amayo.
The highlights of the campaigns were when one of Obondo’s drivers was found in the middle of the night driving an official vehicle with his rivals’ campaign posters in the back seat! Another was an incident in Homa Bay town at the Homa Bay Tourist Hotel, used by the Kanu campaign team as their base, where former Karachuonyo MP, Lazaro Amayo, was reported to have flooded the lakeside town with money through their agents. I wrote a page one story with the following intro: “Kanu campaign team led by former MP, literally flooded Homa Bay town with money from Homa Bay Tourist Hotel to the outskirts leading to Ndhiwa.”
Another highlight was a stoning incident where Kanu supporters led by Minister Dalmau’s Otieno confronted Ford Kenya supporters at a trading centre in Sikwadhi and chaos reigned leaving an elderly villager who was heading to the market and a local cobbler with a spear lodged in his forehead, while the lady’s thigh was scarred.
I filed the story and the headline the following day read as follows: “Chaos in Ndhiwa as Minister Delmas Led Kanu Youths in Stone-Throwing.” The paper sold out and I was a marked man thereafter by the Kanu team who accused me of being biased and of publishing false information. The Minister had at the campaign rally Oywa covered vehemently denied the claims and later invited me to his home, near Rongo town, off the Kisii-Migori highway, that evening to ‘clarify’ some of the issues raised in my reportage.
Earlier, my mother had read the headline and asked me one of the toughest questions I had ever been confronted with in my journalism career: “My son, did you really see Dalmau’s pelting opposition supporters with stones?” I responded after being taken aback by saying: “As journalists we write about everybody including our God, whom we have not seen!” The matter ended there and she served my driver and I a hot delicious dinner.
In Rongo, our 30-minutes tense meeting with the minister the following day was in a private room with a red landline used to receive calls from President Moi only, it was next to the living room. My driver a photographer, who doubled as my bodyguards, waited anxiously for me in the car as a back-up in case things got out of hand.
Meanwhile, all attempts by the minister to persuade me to accept that the story was “a figment of my imagination” and demand for a correction was in vain. We called it a night and I walked away; the matter later ended in court where he sued me for defamation. For the next two years the case dragged in the corridors of justice as I personally picked and drove my two witnesses to Nairobi to attend the hearing before by Lady Justice Mary An’gawa, at the High Court.
In one of the many adjournments, my lawyer, Jan Mohammed, claimed that it was because the judge was uncomfortable with “the conspiracy theory.” Asked to explain, the lawyer said it was because the minister and the judge were known to me as family friends!”
To cut a long story short, the defamation case was later settled out of court with NMG asked to make a donation to a children’s home as a compensation. But I was in the dark just until four years later when I enquired and was informed that the Nation Media Group decide not to pursue the matter any further. The matter ended up there. I was vindicated.
On a lighter side, my seven-years as Kisumu Bureau Chief also had other professional challenges. In one case, one of my correspondents, Harrison Oluoch, covered a church service in the lakeside town, graced by Langata MP, Raila Odinga, where he was quoted saying: “My party, National Development Party’s (NDP) cooperation with Moi’s Kanu is like the De Klerk and Mandela’s cooperation!”
The headline story in the following days Daily Nation cause a storm with opposition leaders and MPs accusing Raila of being a sell-out. On my return from my four0day weekend with my family in Nairobi, I was confronted with the crisis: Raila had also caved in and denied that he uttered the said words and was demanding for a correction.
I consulted my colleague who stood by his story, saying the Langata MP had said even more incriminating issues in his address in Dholuo. Wow! I was in a fix, who do I believe, my writer or the powerful and influential Raila Odinga. I decided to seek an appointment with the Bishop of Hera Church, a breakaway from Anglican Church of Kenya, and armed myself with a tape recorder for the interview. I convinced him to allow me to watch the recorded video of the church service which I recorded.
On returning to my office, I listened to the recording very keenly and transcribed it verbatim. At the end, my correspondent was right and the NDP Leader was denied any correction. The matter ended there.
Another professional dilemma as Bureau Chief was when our Homa Bay Correspondent, Oywa, reported that my father, as Homa Bay County Council chairman, had led five other councillors to defect from Ford Kenya to Kanu, thanks to a political rally in Sindo, organised by former Cabinet Minister Nyakiamo, who was a former Mbita MP and sub-branch chairman.
By then, I was on my off days in Nairobi with my family, when over the 9pm.news on KTN, I saw the breaking news item and my heart almost missed a beat. I called my phone from the estate public booth and asked him to confirm or deny the new development. For once we disagreed, as he told me “You don’t know politics, leave it to us. I have made the decision and need no advice from anyone, least of all from you!”
Wow! That was too hard to swallow. But the following Monday morning when I travelled back to Kisumu and settled in my office, I was shocked to see my mother walk in with my father in two. After the niceties, my mum told me they were there seeking a correction after my father denied that he had ever defected to Kanu, which he had earlier convinced my mother to abandon saying: “It smells like faeces!”
Being a professional, I delegated the assignment to my deputy, Alfred Onditi, with strict instructions that the story was not a correction, but a clarification! He wrote the story and filed it, but the editors were not convinced and took their sweet time for three days before running an idiotic paragraph about the controversy. By then my father had managed to sneak into the officer of Nyakiamo’s aide in Homa Bay town, convinced him to give him the hand written defection letter claiming that he was going to have it typed and made more presentable to be delivered to “His Excellency President Daniel arap Moi” before the formal defection function slated for State House Nakuru the following week. But the latter was overtaken by events.
Another memorable showdown with politicians and their handlers was in Bondo, Siaya District (County) during the inauguration of the new Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Bondo diocese and consecration of the new Bishop by National Council of Churches in Kenya (NCCK) General Secretary, Rev. Mutava Musyimi, at a function graced by President Moi.
Using my discretion as the Bureau Chief, I decided to split the speeches into two, the first was on the NCCK boss, who was my former pastor Nairobi Baptist Church Ngong Road, chiding the Kanu party and government over graft and leadership issues. The second was a story on Moi’s speech focusing on the need for cooperation between the State and the Church. But after filing my stories, thanks to land lines and reverser calls through Telecommunication operators, the Sunday Nation editor decided to run the former and leave the latter for the next day’s publication!
I got a real big roasting from the Head of the PPS, Lee Njiru, the following day. How could I give the Head of State and Kanu National Chairman a total blackout! Thank God, the matter rested there and the said article was published as a brief in the Monday issue of Daily Nation to appease State House and Baba Moi.
My last assignment in Kisumu bureau was to cover a story about derailment of a passenger train from Butere to Kisumu which left over 11 people dead and scores of others with injuries. I was scooped by my East African Standard colleague and friend, Wandalo after he gave me the tip at 7.30pm. two hours after our deadline.
I postponed following up the tip until the following morning, but by then the opposition had splashed it on page one. My bosses could not hear of any excuses and summoned me to headquarters the following day and ordered me to hand over to my deputy. I took the midday Akamba Bus Service ride to the capital city with a heavy heart. After one month suspension, the Group Managing editor, Wangethi Mwangi, reinstated me thanks to intervention of Kenya Union of Journalist’s Secretary General, Ezekiel Mutua’s intervention.
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