Kenyan
JF-Expert Member
- Jun 7, 2012
- 414
- 314
The Asian Exodus from Kenya of 1968 was an unfortunate & hypocritical episode & chapter in Kenyan History/East African History, full of double standards. Jomo Kenyatta's Government instituted what was known as a Kenyanisation Policy and/or an Africanisation Policy soon after independence.
Independence all over Africa was actually a rushed affair, and no proper preparations were made for the transition from Colonialism to Independence. Europe was devastated after the 2nd World War, psychologically, emotionally & financially, and as a result, one of the hasty decisions taken, was to grant political independence to several colonies across Africa, i.e. what then British Prime Minister Harold McMillan famously referred to in 1960 as "a wind of changing blowing through Africa." There were those who however felt that independence ought to be delayed until more Black Africans had undergone thorough training & orientation in the roles of governance & leadership that they were about to take over. For example, the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), under Ronald Ngala, was of the view that independence in Kenya be delayed to around 1973, to allow for a more full proof, lasting & comprehensive transition.
The British were however desperate and under severe financial strain, and did not therefore have the luxury of waiting another 10 years i.e. until 1973. Running the colonies had become burdensome & expensive, with costs far outweighing returns, something that continues to this day actually i.e. continued heavy borrowing by the Kenya Government e.g. it is unlikely that we have even completed payment on numerous projects e.g. construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway Line, 118 years after it's completion in 1901.
Jomo Kenyatta's Government therefore found itself in a fix i.e. there were no jobs for Black Africans, Black Africans who were becoming restless, frustrated and agitated. It was a social time bomb that could not wait. Several lower class Asians & several lower class White Kenyans were therefore hastily sacrificed by the Kenya Government's hastily introduced & hastily implemented Kenyanisation Policy/Africanisation Policy.
Lower class Asians and lower class Whites, some of whom had lived in Kenya for 70 years, were given the choice of taking on Kenyan citizenship, or seeking citizenship overseas e.g. in India, Canada and Britain. But it was like putting a gun to their heads, because there was no guarantee that their Kenyan citizenships would be approved in the two year waiting period. To play it safe therefore, many lower class Asians and many lower class Whites opted to take up citizenships overseas. In this respect, Whites had one advantage over Asians, because e.g. Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia), South Africa, Australia & New Zealand, were willing to accept White immigrants from Kenya. Wealthy Asian families and wealthy White families were unaffected by Kenyanisation/Africanisation, and their Kenyan citizenships were processed almost immediately.
The hypocritical thing though, is that Idi Amin similarly expelled Asians from Uganda four years later in 1972, as a result of which Amin continues to be portrayed by history as an "evil man," though the very same history has conveniently bypassed condemning Jomo Kenyatta for expelling lower class Asians and lower class Whites from Kenya between 1963 & 1968.
Jomo Kenyatta in Africa in the 1960s, held the stature that Nelson Mandela would hold in later decades, and Kenya from around 1965 to around 1988, held the stature in Africa that South Africa holds today i.e. we were pretty much No. 1 in Africa from around 1965 to around 1988, which is why Jomo Kenyatta was portrayed as an "angel" and why Idi Amin continues to be portrayed as the opposite, yet both Jomo Kenyatta & Idi Amin sailed the same boats of those times.
What is fact and what is fiction about the Military coup attempt in Kenya of 1st August 1982...?
The leader of the coup was Senior Private Hezekiah Ochuka Rabala, and his assistant was Senior Private Pancreas Okumu Otenyo. Both were junior non-commissioned Kenya Air Force officers, and for that matter, all the Kenya Air Force officers who participated in 1st August 1982 coup attempt, were junior non-commissioned Kenya Air Force officers. The Kenya Air Force mutineers referred to themselves as the "Peoples' Redemption Council (PRC)," and Hezekiah Ochuka Rabala was their "Chairman." The Kenya Army, under Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed moved fast to crush the coup, with Brig. Mohammed famously leading from the front i.e. Brig Mohammed was on the ground like the rest of the Kenya Army officers, and not giving instructions/orders from the comfort of an office. At the time of the coup attempt on 1st August 1982, Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed was the Deputy Army Commander. Gen Jackson Mulinge at the time, was the Chief of General Staff (CGS) i.e. the title known today as the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces.
Many of the Kenya Air Force mutineers were drunk & disorderly as early as 11 p.m. Saturday evening 31st July 1982, but even in this state of drunkenness & disorderliness, they were still able to capture & control, for a few hours, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (known in those days as Voice of Kenya), Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, and Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki. Junior officers i.e. Privates & Senior Privates. In their ranks were no "high ranking military brains" e.g. Captains, Majors, Colonels, Brigadiers & Generals.
The coup mutineers were all very junior Kenya Air Force officers at the bottom of the pecking order, yet they held Kenya at ransom for almost 12 hours, Sunday morning 1st August 1982. There are quite a number of people that Kenya's then President Daniel T. arap Moi never forgave for the debacle of the coup attempt of 1st August 1982, and he certainly became less trusting & more hands on from that point on e.g. from that point on, President Moi got daily Intelligence briefings from what was then known as the Directorate of Security Intelligence (DSI) i.e. "Special Branch." The Saturday prior to the coup attempt i.e. 31st July 1982, President Moi was at a function in Nyeri, Kenya, with some senior Intelligence officers, both civilian & military, so President Moi understandably wondered whether they were doing their jobs, because a few hours after leaving Nyeri, there is a coup attempt.
By 6.00 p.m. Sunday evening, 1st August 1982, the coup attempt had been crushed, and President Moi appeared on Voice of Kenya television to confirm this. President Moi had been at his Kabarak home in Nakuru, Kenya, earlier on on 1st August 1982, and was driven under heavy security from Nakuru to Nairobi. Gen. Mulinge was also exemplary in his handling of the matter, though Brig. Mohammed remains the overall hero.
Initially, Senior Private Hezekiah Ochuka Rabala & Senior Private Pancreas Okumu Otenyo commandeered a Kenya Air Force aeroplane which they used to flee to neighbouring Tanzania. The commandeered aeroplane was flown by Major Nick Leshan, who would later rise through the ranks to become Lt. Gen. Nick Leshan.
Ochuka and Okumu were arrested & held in custody by Tanzanian authorities. There had however been a coup attempt in Tanzania in 1981, and some of the Tanzanian rebel soldiers fled to Kenya in 1981 where they were also arrested & held in custody by Kenyan authorities. What happened therefore, is that there was a prisoner swap i.e. the Tanzanian mutineers were handed over to the Tanzanian Government, and Ochuka & Okumu were in turn handed over to the Kenyan Government.
Ochuka and Okumu were court-martialed, found guilty, and hanged in either 1985 or 1987. Their lawyer was Moses Wetangula, the current Senator for Bungoma County, Kenya.
Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed was handsomely rewarded. For one, the Kenya Air Force was disbanded and replaced by what was known for many years thereafter as '82 Air Force. Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed was promoted to the rank of Major-General i.e. Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed, and appointed the 1st head of '82 Air Force, a position he held until 1986, when Gen. Jackson Mulinge retired as Chief of General Staff. Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed was further promoted to Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed and appointed as the new Chief of General Staff to replace Mulinge. Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed was later promoted to a full four-star General i.e. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed, before he retired in 1996. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed is still alive. His younger brother Maalim Mohammed also served as a Cabinet Minister in Mzee Moi's Government for 19 years i.e. 1983 to 2002.
Raila Odinga and his father Oginga Odinga, played no role at all in the 1st August 1982 coup attempt, otherwise both would have been arrested, tried, and very likely handed long prison terms. It is difficult to see how Oginga Odinga and Raila Odinga would have escaped being arrested, tried and handed long prison terms back then, had it been ascertained that they had both been involved in the coup attempt of 1st August 1982.
Yes, Oginga Odinga was placed under house arrest for a year after the attempted coup of 1st August 1982, but this was only a precautionary measure by the Kenya Goverment i.e. earlier in 1982, around May 1982, Oginga Odinga & George Anyona had tried to register a political party, the Kenya Socialist Congress, but registration of their political party was declined. Oginga Odinga had been actively agitating politically at the time, so the Kenya Government was clearly out to curtail and restrain political temperatures by placing Oginga Odinga under house arrest for one year.
Independence all over Africa was actually a rushed affair, and no proper preparations were made for the transition from Colonialism to Independence. Europe was devastated after the 2nd World War, psychologically, emotionally & financially, and as a result, one of the hasty decisions taken, was to grant political independence to several colonies across Africa, i.e. what then British Prime Minister Harold McMillan famously referred to in 1960 as "a wind of changing blowing through Africa." There were those who however felt that independence ought to be delayed until more Black Africans had undergone thorough training & orientation in the roles of governance & leadership that they were about to take over. For example, the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), under Ronald Ngala, was of the view that independence in Kenya be delayed to around 1973, to allow for a more full proof, lasting & comprehensive transition.
The British were however desperate and under severe financial strain, and did not therefore have the luxury of waiting another 10 years i.e. until 1973. Running the colonies had become burdensome & expensive, with costs far outweighing returns, something that continues to this day actually i.e. continued heavy borrowing by the Kenya Government e.g. it is unlikely that we have even completed payment on numerous projects e.g. construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway Line, 118 years after it's completion in 1901.
Jomo Kenyatta's Government therefore found itself in a fix i.e. there were no jobs for Black Africans, Black Africans who were becoming restless, frustrated and agitated. It was a social time bomb that could not wait. Several lower class Asians & several lower class White Kenyans were therefore hastily sacrificed by the Kenya Government's hastily introduced & hastily implemented Kenyanisation Policy/Africanisation Policy.
Lower class Asians and lower class Whites, some of whom had lived in Kenya for 70 years, were given the choice of taking on Kenyan citizenship, or seeking citizenship overseas e.g. in India, Canada and Britain. But it was like putting a gun to their heads, because there was no guarantee that their Kenyan citizenships would be approved in the two year waiting period. To play it safe therefore, many lower class Asians and many lower class Whites opted to take up citizenships overseas. In this respect, Whites had one advantage over Asians, because e.g. Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia), South Africa, Australia & New Zealand, were willing to accept White immigrants from Kenya. Wealthy Asian families and wealthy White families were unaffected by Kenyanisation/Africanisation, and their Kenyan citizenships were processed almost immediately.
The hypocritical thing though, is that Idi Amin similarly expelled Asians from Uganda four years later in 1972, as a result of which Amin continues to be portrayed by history as an "evil man," though the very same history has conveniently bypassed condemning Jomo Kenyatta for expelling lower class Asians and lower class Whites from Kenya between 1963 & 1968.
Jomo Kenyatta in Africa in the 1960s, held the stature that Nelson Mandela would hold in later decades, and Kenya from around 1965 to around 1988, held the stature in Africa that South Africa holds today i.e. we were pretty much No. 1 in Africa from around 1965 to around 1988, which is why Jomo Kenyatta was portrayed as an "angel" and why Idi Amin continues to be portrayed as the opposite, yet both Jomo Kenyatta & Idi Amin sailed the same boats of those times.
What is fact and what is fiction about the Military coup attempt in Kenya of 1st August 1982...?
The leader of the coup was Senior Private Hezekiah Ochuka Rabala, and his assistant was Senior Private Pancreas Okumu Otenyo. Both were junior non-commissioned Kenya Air Force officers, and for that matter, all the Kenya Air Force officers who participated in 1st August 1982 coup attempt, were junior non-commissioned Kenya Air Force officers. The Kenya Air Force mutineers referred to themselves as the "Peoples' Redemption Council (PRC)," and Hezekiah Ochuka Rabala was their "Chairman." The Kenya Army, under Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed moved fast to crush the coup, with Brig. Mohammed famously leading from the front i.e. Brig Mohammed was on the ground like the rest of the Kenya Army officers, and not giving instructions/orders from the comfort of an office. At the time of the coup attempt on 1st August 1982, Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed was the Deputy Army Commander. Gen Jackson Mulinge at the time, was the Chief of General Staff (CGS) i.e. the title known today as the Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces.
Many of the Kenya Air Force mutineers were drunk & disorderly as early as 11 p.m. Saturday evening 31st July 1982, but even in this state of drunkenness & disorderliness, they were still able to capture & control, for a few hours, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (known in those days as Voice of Kenya), Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, and Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki. Junior officers i.e. Privates & Senior Privates. In their ranks were no "high ranking military brains" e.g. Captains, Majors, Colonels, Brigadiers & Generals.
The coup mutineers were all very junior Kenya Air Force officers at the bottom of the pecking order, yet they held Kenya at ransom for almost 12 hours, Sunday morning 1st August 1982. There are quite a number of people that Kenya's then President Daniel T. arap Moi never forgave for the debacle of the coup attempt of 1st August 1982, and he certainly became less trusting & more hands on from that point on e.g. from that point on, President Moi got daily Intelligence briefings from what was then known as the Directorate of Security Intelligence (DSI) i.e. "Special Branch." The Saturday prior to the coup attempt i.e. 31st July 1982, President Moi was at a function in Nyeri, Kenya, with some senior Intelligence officers, both civilian & military, so President Moi understandably wondered whether they were doing their jobs, because a few hours after leaving Nyeri, there is a coup attempt.
By 6.00 p.m. Sunday evening, 1st August 1982, the coup attempt had been crushed, and President Moi appeared on Voice of Kenya television to confirm this. President Moi had been at his Kabarak home in Nakuru, Kenya, earlier on on 1st August 1982, and was driven under heavy security from Nakuru to Nairobi. Gen. Mulinge was also exemplary in his handling of the matter, though Brig. Mohammed remains the overall hero.
Initially, Senior Private Hezekiah Ochuka Rabala & Senior Private Pancreas Okumu Otenyo commandeered a Kenya Air Force aeroplane which they used to flee to neighbouring Tanzania. The commandeered aeroplane was flown by Major Nick Leshan, who would later rise through the ranks to become Lt. Gen. Nick Leshan.
Ochuka and Okumu were arrested & held in custody by Tanzanian authorities. There had however been a coup attempt in Tanzania in 1981, and some of the Tanzanian rebel soldiers fled to Kenya in 1981 where they were also arrested & held in custody by Kenyan authorities. What happened therefore, is that there was a prisoner swap i.e. the Tanzanian mutineers were handed over to the Tanzanian Government, and Ochuka & Okumu were in turn handed over to the Kenyan Government.
Ochuka and Okumu were court-martialed, found guilty, and hanged in either 1985 or 1987. Their lawyer was Moses Wetangula, the current Senator for Bungoma County, Kenya.
Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed was handsomely rewarded. For one, the Kenya Air Force was disbanded and replaced by what was known for many years thereafter as '82 Air Force. Brig. Mahmoud Mohammed was promoted to the rank of Major-General i.e. Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed, and appointed the 1st head of '82 Air Force, a position he held until 1986, when Gen. Jackson Mulinge retired as Chief of General Staff. Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed was further promoted to Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed and appointed as the new Chief of General Staff to replace Mulinge. Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed was later promoted to a full four-star General i.e. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed, before he retired in 1996. Gen. Mahmoud Mohammed is still alive. His younger brother Maalim Mohammed also served as a Cabinet Minister in Mzee Moi's Government for 19 years i.e. 1983 to 2002.
Raila Odinga and his father Oginga Odinga, played no role at all in the 1st August 1982 coup attempt, otherwise both would have been arrested, tried, and very likely handed long prison terms. It is difficult to see how Oginga Odinga and Raila Odinga would have escaped being arrested, tried and handed long prison terms back then, had it been ascertained that they had both been involved in the coup attempt of 1st August 1982.
Yes, Oginga Odinga was placed under house arrest for a year after the attempted coup of 1st August 1982, but this was only a precautionary measure by the Kenya Goverment i.e. earlier in 1982, around May 1982, Oginga Odinga & George Anyona had tried to register a political party, the Kenya Socialist Congress, but registration of their political party was declined. Oginga Odinga had been actively agitating politically at the time, so the Kenya Government was clearly out to curtail and restrain political temperatures by placing Oginga Odinga under house arrest for one year.
