My name is Mervyn Maciel and as I celebrate my 95th birthday, I pay tribute to remarkable people I met in Kenya during almost 20 years in the civil service from the British colonial era in 1947 to an optimistic newly independent country in this last instalment of a series I have been writing for ‘The Weekly Review’.
Having just entered my 95th year on May 19 – I felt it would be good to remember some of the remarkable people I met during my nearly two decades of service in Kenya. The list is compiled purely from memory and is in no particular order. Some individuals I met personally, others only casually.
Let me start with my first posting to Mombasa. I was based at the District Commissioner’s office, and although I did greet the Liwaili (Governor or senior administrative official during the sultanate and British colonial times) for the Coast – Sheikh Sir Mbarak Ali al-Hinawy – when we passed each other, I never had occasion to meet him personally. The one I met quite frequently, was the Assistant Liwali – Sheikh Rashid bin Azzan, a polite and soft-spoken Individual who often called at my office for information. Another individual I also met was Mohamed Said who was the Kadhi at the time. Our meetings were purely casual.
From Mombasa, I was transferred to Voi in the Taita district and here I met Juxon Shako, who was a schoolteacher but would many years later make history by becoming the first Ambassador to Germany from independent Kenya. I would later meet him in Kisii. Then, there was the tax clerk, Douglas Mlamba and office messenger, Matasa. From Voi, I moved to Lodwar in Turkana, and the only Africans I remember meeting there were former Sergeant Major Farah Issa, the Office boys (Dies Tapo and Lofito) and the DC’s interpreter, Kaaman. From Lodwar, I was transferred to Marsabit, a district and people I got to love. Here, I was to meet Daudi Dabasso Wabera about whom I have written in an earlier article. And how could I forget, Elisha Daniel Godana – who later became MP and assistant minister – about whom I’ve also written previously.
Then, there was the Catechist, Paulo Dalle, and George Kihia Mahinda, who replaced Wabera as my new assistant. He was very efficient at his job and spoke English with an almost Oxford accent! He and his wife, Joyce were good friends of mine. Also, I cannot forget Shale Hirbo, the office assistant who, though crippled (he had lost a leg in an accident), was a loyal and dependable individual. I felt he deserved a lot more than what he was being paid and took up his case with some success.
Then there were colourful characters like Jaldessa Diko, the Nyapara or headman whose nickname was Bwana Sasa Hivi (Mr ‘Just Now). He would promise people the earth but often let them down! Nor can I forget the two Prison Warders – Corporal Wainaina Keriba and his successor William Ongera (who was so disappointed when my newly wedded wife had to leave so soon after we were married, that he gave her Sh10 – a kind gesture we never forgot).
I also met a prominent Omani Arab from Muscat, Sheikh Harubu Bakheit – a much travelled individual who, must have met some of my own countrymen as he often regaled us by singing some of our own traditional Goan songs! I am told by my friend Woche Guyo that Sheikh Haroub was assistant Kadhi in Marsasbit from 1960-1975.
Another interesting character in Marsabit was Newa Dokle, the DC’s interpreter. He was previously an orderly to the then Provincial Commissioner, Sir Gerald Reece. During my subsequent posting to Kitale I was temporarily seconded to Kapenguria where the famous trial of Jomo Kenyatta and five other independence heroes was taking place. This story was covered in an earlier article.
It is also here that I met one of the defence counsels – Chief W O. Davies of Nigeria. Because of the colour bar obtaining at the time, most of these lawyers – with the exception of the well-known British Queen’s Counsel D. N. Pritt – were not allowed in the only hotel in town (Kitale Hotel) and, for some unknown reason, were directed to my in-laws’ home where they used to congregate and socialise. Chief Davies was very kind in providing me with lifts to and from Kapenguria to Kitale.
Much later, I had a second posting to Marsabit but was disappointed to be later transferred to Kisii on promotion. Here, I was to meet Juxon Shako again. My assistant at Kisii was Gordon Orinda, a friendly individual who was full of life. He later resigned to enter politics and contest the South Nyanza seat, which was finally won by Lawrence Oguda, a person I often met when he called at my office to collect his permit to hold public meetings. Someone else I also met at Kisii was the humble Maurice Otunga, who was then Bishop of Kisii. Years later, when he was made a Cardinal and moved to Nairobi, he became a good friend of my late younger brother, Wilfred, and wrote affectionately about my sibling when he heard of his untimely and tragic death in a traffic accident.
It is also at Kisii that I met Lawrence Sagini, who rose to become Minister for Education in the Kenyatta government. Yet, another individual from Kisii I remember well was the athlete, Nyandika Maiyoro, who used to call at our offices often. Despite the success he had attained in the field of sport, he remained very humble. I was also fortunate in meeting Paul Mboya, Secretary of the African District Council (formerly known as the Local Native Council). Paul had an imposing stature.
There are others I met at Kisii like Senior Chief Musa Nyandusi, father of Simeon Nyachae. Musa Nyandusi was also the Vice President of our newly formed non-racial South Nyanza Sports Club. His colleague, Chief Zacharia Aseda of Kitutu (Kisii Highlands) was also a member of our club.
Simeon Nyachae was being groomed for a post in the administration and I remember him sitting with me as I ran through some of the work in a district office. I was later to meet him at Njoro when he was visiting the Plant Breeding Station as Provincial Commissioner of the Rift Valley Province. He had not forgotten me! Then there was the friendly and impressive African Courts Officer, Charles Oduk, a very tall individual with whom I got on well. Another prominent person I met at Kisii was Meshak Ndisi, the Labour Officer who, because of his seniority, was given a superior government quarter in the Asian housing area. I should explain that government housing was then on a purely racial basis.
I was the Secretary of the Asian Housing Committee, while my good friend, Robert Ouko, who was then a Revenue Clerk at Kisii, was the Secretary of the African Housing Committee. My interaction with Robert Ouko, later Foreign Minister who was assassinated in 1990, is mentioned in a previous article. Dr Mwinzi was another individual I met in Kisii. He was attached to the Native Civil hospital, and expressed concern when he heard that no doctor had visited our seriously ill child, Conrad, who died of sheer neglect at the hospital that night!
Pride of place must also go to our faithful and caring cook, Magama Nyangechi, who remained with my family for years and even saw us off from Embakasi airport as we relocated to the UK. He was a kind-hearted human being with whom I kept in touch regularly. I also sent him money and newly tailored suits from England as he was fond of dressing smartly. My family and I were saddened to learn that, some years later, he was murdered in his home location of Bassi. From Kisii, I was transferred on promotion to the Ministry of Agriculture and posted to Machakos where I was housed opposite Dr Munyua Waiyaki. He later entered politics and became a prominent minister in the Kenyatta government,
From Machakos, I was transferred to the Plant Breeding Research Station at Njoro where I remained until my retirement. Among the remarkable people I met there were Plant Breeder Festus Ogada who had recently returned from America. Lab. Assistant, James Waiyaki, who stayed with me while a government quarter was found for him. Other senior African staff were, Charles Nyabare, Robert Mutura, Bernard Muruli, H. Ebagole and my own replacement as Executive Officer, Alfayo Akala.
Some of my Kenyan friends did take the trouble of visiting me in my manyatta here in England, among them former Coast Provincial Commissioner Luka Galgallo, Adano Wario Roba and Halkano Dida Waqo.
If any of those mentioned in this article or their children and grandchildren are still around, I would like to greet them all warmly as I can’t forget the friendship I forged with them. I obviously met many others and I apologise if I have inadvertently forgotten to mention them all.
