A former powerful Provincial Commissioner during the Kanu era has come out to reveal unique details that characterised the 1982 unsuccessful coup against the government of former President Daniel arap Moi.
The day Kibaki was forced to hide in a dirty golf store
"It was more of an order than a request"
President Mwai Kibaki
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David Musila, a former senator who was serving as Central Province PC at the time of the coup, has shared his experience in his new memoirs - Seasons of Hope.
He recalled that at the time when the Kenya Air Force soldiers attempted to topple the government, then Vice President Mwai Kibaki was in Othaya which was under his control as the area PC.
Musila writes that it became his duty to ensure the country's second in command was safe and that he went the extra mile to ensure the coup plotters did not lay their hands of Kibaki.
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Nyeri Club
"The next step was to secure all VIPs who might have been within the Province at the time. VP Mwai Kibaki had been at the Nyeri Agricultural Show together with President Moi, and we suspected he was residing at his home in Othaya. I called him to find out if he was safe and informed him I was sending a Senior Police Officer whom he knew very well to pick him up," the former PC writes.
Musila adds that when Kibaki arrived in Nyeri, he told the VP that his safety was only guaranteed if he follow the officer's instructions, saying it was "more of an order than a request".
"The first place I thought we could him was the Nyeri Club. We found a tiny storeroom, small and somehow unhygienic and locked him in it. I reasoned that the coup plotters would not think of looking for the VP in a place like that," the former PC narrates.
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Former President Daniel arap Moi
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The former VP was later transferred to his residence in Nyeri town where he was highly guarded with Musila's wife preparing all the meals for the man who later became Kenya's third President.
When the Kenya Army Forces defeated the Kenya Air Forces to neutralise the coup, Musila invited the VP for dinner during which the then President Daniel arap Moi called the PC for an update.
Kibaki had requested to speak to Moi but the head of state "retorted rather sharply that he did not want to speak to his deputy".
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