The American spy agency, CIA, published reports that provides new details on a period when Kenya’s founding First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta caused anxiety among US government officials.
The CIA's reports, which were declassified, reveal that the American government was worried that Ms Kenyatta’s vast and controversial wealth was likely to cause conflict and destablize the country after the death of founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
In a briefing dated August 31st 1978- a week after Mzee's death, CIA agents state that Mama Ngina was highly resented due to a perception that she had accumulated a lot of wealth through unorthodox and aggressive business practices.
"The family’s hold on the economy is increasingly resented. Public criticism has been fanned by open parliamentary debate about scandals and high-level corruption...Students at the University of Nairobi are particularly concerned about the uneven distribution of Kenya’s wealth. They and the man on the street are critical of the family’s involvement in the charcoal and ivory trade,” one of the memos reports.
The brief expresses fears that Mzee’s successor, President Daniel arap Moi, would take advantage of the hatred Kenyans had towards the family to “take over large shares of the Kenyatta’s holdings.”
The Americans noted that if Moi and his team dared to pull such a move, then Kenya would be thrust into instability as the Kenyatta family would respond strongly.
The CIA noted that most of the government institutions including the military were, at the time, held by members of the Kikuyu community who were likely to remain loyal to the Kenyattas.
Fortunately, President Moi maintained a cordial relationship with the powerful family, even picking Mzee’s son, Uhuru, as his preferred’s successor in the 2002 election.
The CIA brief further stated that much of the wealth acquired by the Kenyatta family was obtained through Mama Ngina.
The CIA report reads partly, “Kenyatta himself owned only about a half-dozen properties covering roughly 4,000 hectares, mainly farms in the Rift Valley and in the district of Kiambu where he was born".
It adds, "His wife, Mama Ngina, however, owns at least 115,000 hectares including a 13,000 hectare ranch in the Kiambu district, two tea plantations at Matu and Mangu, and three sisal farms near the Tanzanian border. She also has considerable holdings in the resort areas around Mombasa and is involved in coffee plantations and in the Kenyan ruby mines".
