In the second instalment of an exclusive four-part serialisation of Early Bird: A Memoir , Beth Mugo talks of her role in forming Mwai Kibaki’s Democratic Party, survival tactics during the push for multiparty politics and the intrigues behind four landmark elections in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007. Plus life as a pioneer Nairobi female MP and Cabinet Secretary in the Grand Coalition government
The clamour for multipartyism had taken off. A mix of street protests, mass political rallies and fiery press conferences against and in defence of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) government were the order of the day. In Nairobi, the imposing Kenyatta International Conference (now Convention) Centre (KICC) was the preferred venue for press briefings for government officials, while Chester House, which hosted many offices of international media houses, was the venue of pressers for opposition leaders.
President Daniel arap Moi had on December 10, 1991 at a KANU delegates meeting at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, ordered a repeal of Section 2A of the Constitution to return multiparty politics for the first time in 26 years. The change, through the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act No 12 of 1991, also introduced term limits to the presidency.
The unprecedented move was perhaps triggered by domestic pressure and the decision of the Bretton Woods institutions meeting in Paris and the West to suspend more than $350 million in quick disbursing aid to Kenya on November 26, 1991. They demanded economic and political reforms, citing a need for Kenya to privatise State corporations, reduce budget deficit and size of the civil service, observe accountability and transparency in economic management, and greater adherence to human rights with more emphasis on civil and political liberties.
I joined former Vice President (1978 – 1988) and Health Minister in President Moi’s government, Mwai Kibaki, to form the Democratic Party of Kenya in January 1992 . He had just decamped from the ruling party, protesting what was considered bad governance and a stifled political space after being dropped as Vice President and Finance minister in 1988 to a less influential Health portfolio.
The Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), which was founded earlier in May 1991 by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga (former Vice President), Philip Gachoka, Ahmed Bamahariz, Martin Shikuku, Salim Ndamwe, George Nthenge and Masinde Muliro, had split into two outfits: Ford Kenya led by Jaramogi and Ford Asili led by former Minister for Transport and Communication, Kenneth Matiba. Gachoka was believed to be holding brief for Matiba who was then recuperating in a London hospital following a stroke.
John Keen (secretary general), former Assistant Minister for Cooperatives Development, Njenga Karume, Joseph Munyao, former Wajir South MP Ahmed Abdi Ogle (national organising secretary), former Cabinet Minister George Muhoho, former Voi MP and Cabinet Minister Eliud Mwamunga (treasurer), former Gatundu MP and Assistant Minister Ngengi Muigai, former Nyaribari MP and Cabinet Minister James Nyamweya, Julius Muthama from Embu, David Munene Kairu from Kieni, Nyeri and I were some of the 12 founding members of DP. I was the only woman in the party ranks in our first meetings at Cianda House in Nairobi's CBD and at Jacaranda Hotel in Westlands, Nairobi. Martha Karua joined us later after Ford Asili denied her ticket to run for the Gichugu parliamentary seat, while Tabitha Seii came in to represent Rift Valley region.
KANU government was ruthlessly dealing with opposition and protests were a common occurrence in Nairobi. One day in 1992, I received an invitation from Andrew Ngumba, a former Nairobi Mayor, to join them at an opposition rally in Mathare grounds in Nairobi. Maina Wanjigi of KANU was the area MP.
In a packed rally, held under a scorching midday sun, opposition luminaries pushed the Moi government hard in the clamour for various reforms. Ngumba, a government critic, used strong language and words particularly directed at President Moi and his government, getting thunderous cheers from the charged crowd. The crowd called for an end to an “incompetent and corrupt” regime. At the time, such attacks from opposition politicians and in the press were not taken lightly. It was rather obvious that there would be reprisals.
Mathare and Kamukunji are famous for fiery opposition rallies since July 1990 when a political rally was violently dispersed by riot police wielding truncheons and firing teargas in the latter, leading to four days of rioting and looting that left more than 20 people dead and injured.
As the rally progressed, I got a tip-off that the government was planning to arrest me. I was on edge. My driver, Rashid Kefea, had also sensed trouble. He was a Tanzanian national who had worked for me from 1976 and so was familiar with security issues. He, therefore, positioned the vehicle, a Blue Range Rover, KUM 596, and quickly whisked me away.
Beth Mugo reflects on the life and contributions of Kenneth Matiba
Fearing possible arrest by the police, who were trailing me, he made several turns then drove straight to my sister’s house along State House Road. I decided not to drive to my home suspecting police detectives could have gone ahead to Kitisuru to wait for me.
The following morning, my sister, Beatrice Wambui Muturi, covered me in a soft quilt or duvet and blankets in the back seat of her car and whisked me out of Nairobi to my parents’ home in Ichaweri, Gatundu. My dad was calm, mother was concerned but both ensured I was well hidden and safe.
A few days later, my lawyer, Paul Muite, went to court to secure an anticipatory bail to prevent my impending arrest. I had to appear in court, driven there by my sister, Beatrice, at the back of her car and hidden from prying eyes of detectives. The anticipatory bail saved me. In those days, the government often used the Public Security Act to detain people considered as enemies of the State.
I also had every reason to fear because a few years earlier, the Mwakenya (a Kiswahili acronym for a Union of Nationalists to Liberate Kenya) movement that included several personalities and rights organisations, had been banned and hundreds of suspected members were detained without trial. Among casualties of detention without trial was Kenneth Matiba, who suffered a stroke in detention and had to be flown out of the country for treatment. My brother, Andrew Kibathi Muigai, was arrested and jailed for six years at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison on August 8, 1988 after a rushed 20-minute proceeding held after 5pm before Magistrate Joseph Mango in a Nairobi Court on allegations of secretly meeting an exiled politician, Koigi wa Wamwere, a former Nakuru North (later Subukia) MP who had fled to Norway in 1986. By the time we got to court, he had already been sentenced.
President Moi dissolved Parliament on October 28, 1992, paving the way for the Electoral Commission of Kenya (now renamed the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) under the chairmanship of Justice Zacchaeus Chesoni to announce Kenya’s presidential, parliamentary and civic elections would be on December 7 that year and candidate nominations on November 9. It would have been a near-impossible task to deliver the general elections in only 34 days, forcing the ECK to pick December 29, 1992.This was a welcome relief as it allowed political parties three weeks to nominate candidates and another three for official campaigns before the vote.
As the 1992 general elections drew closer, my sights were set on the Dagoretti parliamentary seat. The Constituency was an obvious choice because my husband's (Nicholas Mugo, who died last year) roots are in Kangemi. They moved to Gatundu when Nicholas was attending school, and most of my in-laws still live in Kangemi. To gain entry into the Constituency, my uncle, the half-brother of my father-in-law, Justus Mugo Muratha, held my hand. He was a freedom fighter who lived for six months underground at the start of the 1952 State of Emergency, organising aid for detainees, prisoners and freedom fighters.
Under the chairmanship of their comrade, Joshua Mucheru, who was later shot in 1954, they dug an underground room concealed with grass and only accessible through a tunnel on the land belonging to the Koinange family in Banana Hill, eight miles from Nairobi, where they coordinated collection of money for the trial of Ex-Senior Chief Koinange and the Kapenguria proceedings. When he passed on, the surviving Koinange widows came home to condole with the family, affirming the value of friendship.
Colonial authorities often searched the ground, even walking over the underground banker, but Justus Mugo was captured when he came out to breathe fresh air. Therefore, he was in tune with local and national politics and was in 1979 nominated Councillor of Nairobi City Council by the then director of Local Government Elections, Andrew Ligale. Mr Justus Mugo introduced me to his friend, Mukuria, a teacher in Uthiru who was actively involved in Dagoretti politics.
I hired a tutor to teach me Kiswahili. I had trouble speaking fluent Swahili because throughout my life, I had relied on English and my native language, Kikuyu. The Beecher Report on Education had banned the use of Kiswahili in schools because they thought it brought people together. However, since Kiswahili was the language of communication in political rallies and a majority of residents of Dagoretti came from diverse ethnic backgrounds, I needed Kiswahili to communicate with them effectively. I had to also mobilise financial resources from family and friends for campaigns.
Around this time, political manoeuvres had set in, including the delimitation of boundaries, where the ECK published through a Gazette Order the names and boundaries of the eight Nairobi constituencies.
Fearing that State House, which was in Dagoretti Constituency, would fall under the opposition, the government ensured Westlands Constituency boundaries, which KANU was set to win easily, were modified to include the “House on the hill” (as State House is known), Kileleshwa and Kangemi.
After the delimitation, Dagoretti was left with Uthiru, Ruthimitu, Mutuini, Ngando, Waithaka, Riruta, Woodley, Kenyatta Golf Course, Railways Club, Githembe, Upper Hill, Community, Kabiro, Kanungaga, Kinyanjui, Gatina, Kawangware, Kamitha, Kirigu, Kabiria, Kilimani, Naivasha Road, Lenana and Kangemi.I knew my work was cut out to secure the vote.
The campaigns were not easy. Unbridled use of violence and strong-arm tactics were used against opposition candidates in the elections in many parts of the country. KANU Youth Wingers, Operation Moi Wins lobby group, biased media coverage, partisan provincial administration and the well-oiled Youth for KANU 92 (YK’92) campaign machinery made the climb steep for opposition politicians…
I contested on a DP ticket and lost in Dagoretti to Christopher Kariuki Kamuyu of Ford Asili. He was a former KANU MP. In that election, Kenneth Matiba, a firebrand politician, businessman and corporate leader who had previously led the July 7, 1990 (Saba Saba) nationwide protests alongside Raila Odinga, Charles Rubia, George Anyona and Njeru Gathangu demanding multiparty politics, was a sensation in Nairobi, Central Kenya and Parts of Western Kenya and Rift Valley. He won most seats in Nairobi, thanks to his popular campaign slogan “Kuga na Gwika” (loosely translated to mean saying and doing).
The requirement to obtain a permit from the District Commissioner for a meeting of more than nine people limited my ability to assemble my supporters and campaign freely in the constituency. This was made even more difficult by the requirement that application for permit be received by the DC 14 days before the scheduled meeting and many times the rally permits were revoked at the last minute for “security reasons.”
The fact that I did not win did not dampen my spirits. I had to bide my time while remaining closer to the people. The loss put in me an urgent need to push for women empowerment even as I celebrated the election of Phoebe Asiyo as Karachuonyo MP, Charity Ngilu (Kitui Central MP), Nyiva Mwendwa (Kitui West), Martha Karua (Gichugu), Agnes Ndetei (Kibwezi) and Mary Wanjiru who clinched Kinangop.
Only two seats in Nairobi went to other parties in the 1992 vote. They were Langata Constituency that Raila Odinga of Ford K got and Westlands won by Amin Walji of KANU. After his death in 1994, Amin was replaced by KANU’s Fred Gumo.
As an advocate of gender equity and women empowerment, I was so excited when then Kitui Central MP, Charity Ngilu, declared interest to run for presidency on an SDP ticket. Apollo Njonjo, James Orengo and Prof Anyang' Nyongo were members of the party. I did not think twice and ditched DP. How else was I going to explain to people and more so my family that I support women empowerment and not be willing to support Ngilu, the only formidable female presidential candidate at the time? Kibaki and other officials of the party were not amused.
The campaign was not as tough as the first one, perhaps because after my 1992 loss, I established the Dagoretti Bursary Fund which assisted needy learners to access quality education in various Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions.
Therefore, I contested and won the Dagoretti Constituency seat on an SDP ticket in the 1997 general elections, becoming the first and only elected female legislator in Nairobi. DP had performed better in that election, winning most seats.
Beth Mugo slams Raila and urges him to retire from politics
However, it is worth noting that Kibaki, the DP presidential flag-bearer, chose not to campaign in my constituency, perhaps in appreciation of my principles and understanding of my previous role in the formation of DP.I think as a gentleman, he was trying to avoid an awkward moment that would make him appear to be campaigning against me or undermining my chances of electability. You rarely see such traits from party leaders. He respected personal relationships.
The failure by the opposition to wrestle power away from President Moi and KANU in 1997 was the height of political disillusionment. The presidential vote tally for the combined opposition was over 65 per cent compared to Moi’s 33 per cent. It had started becoming clear that the minimum constitutional reforms were inadequate to steer the country forward towards the right direction with justice, fairness and transparency.
As early as May 1998 after joining parliament, I had already identified myself with progressive MPs among them James Orengo, George Kapten, Mukhisa Kituyi among others to advocate for real change. As a group we were becoming a thorn to the government of the day and so on May 9, 1998, I joined the group of MPs to a public rally at Sabwani Primary School at the then Kwanza Constituency in Trans Nzoia where we wanted to address the rising insecurity and economic issues facing the country. However the District Commissioner had declared the meeting illegal and the police had barricaded the venue. On getting there we were confronted by the police. I remember I was personally beaten up by the police and hit several times on the head.
I joined Muungano wa Mageuzi. This was a political movement that sought to bring about changes by mobilising people to oppose Moi’s dictatorship through mass action and civil disobedience. Other members of the movement were James Orengo, Moses Mwihia, Mukhisa Kituyi, Alfred Nderitu. At this time Raila’s Party (NDP) had started embracing KANU on a co-operation agreement meaning that the opposition was becoming more and more fragmented. The clamour for reforms was losing ground. It was very clear that no reforms could be attained before the 2002 elections. The only way to bring about change was change of power.
Around this time my long-time friend the immediate former President of Liberia Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who was then the Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa visited Kenya. According to Sirleaf, together with other influential people they were committed to help women candidates in Africa to ascend to power. When I met her she encouraged me to consider running for President in the following election.
In June 2001, I announced my intention to run for President on an SDP ticket. I must add here that I still remained committed to the opposition unity in fielding one presidential candidate. For this reason, when the opposition chiefs at the time led by President Mwai Kibaki who was by that time the Leader of the Official Opposition, Wamalwa Kijana and Charity Ngilu came together under the National Alliance for Change, I withdrew my candidature in October 2001.
In the same month, I publicly castigated my party (SDP) for appearing to stay outside the table of dialogue for opposition unity. I was of the strong view that SDP could not go it alone. I repeated the same sentiments in February 2002.I was already a member of the National Alliance for Change (NAC) Co-ordinating Committee and a member of NAC’s Council. I, therefore, found SDP’s stand on various national issues of the day in conflict with NAC’s collective decisions. For this reason on June 21, 2002 and precisely six months to the elections, I resigned as the interim vice-chair of SDP to concentrate my energy towards opposition unity.
Afterwards there was a bitter fall-out within the new KANU after merger with NDP. Many seasoned politicians trooped out of KANU and formed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).After a series of discussions, LDP finally merged with the National Party of Kenya (NAK) to found the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) with Mwai Kibaki as the presidential candidate. NARC went on to win the 2002 elections with overwhelming majority. Mwai Kibaki took over as the Third President of the Republic of Kenya.
I retained the constituency seat in 2002 and 2007 general elections on a National Rainbow Alliance (Narc) party ticket and Party of National Unity (PNU) respectively. Under the Kibaki presidency, I was appointed Assistant Minister for Information and Tourism and redeployed in the same capacity to the Ministry of Education after three months. In the Information and Tourism docket, I worked together with my minister, Raphael Tuju, then Rarieda MP, to reclaim KICC from KANU, that had claimed ownership.
As Assistant Minister for Basic Education, I worked closely with Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof George Saitoti, and Permanent Secretary (renamed Principal Secretary) for Education, Prof Karega Mutahi, to implement the Free Primary Education plan in 2003.
On April 13, 2008, I was appointed the Minister for Public Health and Sanitation in the 40-member Cabinet of the grand coalition government of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The team was sworn into office on April 17, 2008.
Crafted after a difficult period of political turmoil that left more than 1,000 people killed and thousands displaced or injured after a contested presidential election between Kibaki, who was the sitting President and Mr Odinga who led the ODM team, it was understandably a big team for the sake of national peace and cohesion.
The Health docket had myself as Public Health and Sanitation minister while Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o was named to Medical Services.
Although there had already been political ceasefire brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and flanked by Graca Machel and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, there were deep-rooted suspicions within the government from across the political divide.
This was not the first time the health docket was in the hands of two ministers. During President Daniel Moi’s rule, Prof Sam Ongeri and Dr Amukowa Anangwe had served from 1997 to 2002 as Minister for Public Health and Medical Services respectively. The split was normal in Kenya’s politics and organisation of government.
However, as highlighted elsewhere in the book, the circumstances that prevailed after the signing of the National Accord ending the post-election violence in 2008 were unique. Mistrust and resultant coalition tensions in government saw some Cabinet ministers lean more towards the Prime Minister and not the President as was required by law. Others paid more attention to the President and not the Premier. In all, the then Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Francis Muthaura, did his best to steady the ship.
It was also during my tenure that The Tobacco Control Act 2007 was implemented. To actualise its provisions, my ministry banned smoking of tobacco in public places and created designated smoking areas.
The Tobacco Control Board was formed with the main function of advising the minister on the national policy touching on the production, manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion, sponsorship and use of tobacco and its products.
The ban on smoking in public spaces and requirement to feature dangers of tobacco use on packaging of cigarettes did not go down well with some players. I was once summoned to the Prime Minister’s Office for an urgent meeting. When I got there, I was ushered in and found the top brass of some tobacco companies in Kenya.
The then Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Deputy Prime Minister, Musalia Mudavadi, Minister for Medical Services, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and Nairobi Mayor Godfrey Majiwa, were present.
The tobacco firms were trying to lobby government to relax enforcement of the Act to which I firmly informed them that required an amendment to the law and a Cabinet memorandum since the implementation was a decision of the Cabinet. The Prime Minister and the Mayor backed my position. That is how we successfully eliminated smoking in public, in effect saving many lives.
As 2013 general elections approached, which was going to be the first under the new Constitution of Kenya, 2010, I made arrangements to run for Senator of Nairobi. I had printed campaign merchandise and was planning to roll out a countywide campaign to secure the vote under The National Alliance (TNA) party.
However, since I had just returned home from cancer treatment in the US, my doctor advised me not to run, citing campaign stress. I was hesitant but they prevailed upon me and I honoured their concerns. That is how I got nominated to the Senate in March 2013 and again after the 2017 general elections during which time I served as the vice-chairperson of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC).
I also spearheaded the formation of the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) and presented an Affirmative Action Bill that sailed through.
