Captain (Retired) Kung'u Muigai while eulogising the late Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery recalled an incident where the State sponsored them for a three-week stay at a five-star hotel in India.
Muigai and the late Nkaissery were the select two candidates picked on merit by the Indian government for a nine-month military training for the Kenya Army in 1972.
A few months into their training period, then Ugandan President Idi Amin sparked controversy when he exiled Indians from the country and they returned home.
African countries that had sent their troops to India for training begun calling their soldiers back home but Captain (Rtd) Kung'u and General Nkaissery did not receive the orders to return to Kenya.
Horrific war stories from the Indian returnees, coupled with anxiety from unanswered correspondence to Kenya army commanders caused the two to contemplate going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL), one of the most serious offences a soldier can commit while in service.
Nkaissery and Muigai reported to then Ambassador of Kenya to India, Mr Shadrack Kimerell, who sympathised with them and put them up at a five-star hotel in the country as he deliberated over what the right course of action would be.
Three days later, the Ambassador summoned them and asked Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's nephew, Captain (Rtd) Muigai, to use the diplomatic line to reach the then President.
"I was very anxious [to call the President] because in the first place I did not want to join the army but he bullied me into it, so I was scared he would think I was just pushing the agenda of refusing to work.
"But I was pleasantly surprised that he was very receptive, he said 'no, no, no you can't die in a foreign country, you must come back.' And I think he forgot all about it because for three weeks we stayed at the hotel with our per diem. But on the third week we were called to the embassy, found our tickets there and we came back," he related.
Captain (Rtd) Muigai further narrated to eager listeners that they had decided to quit the military to pursue a brokering business, where they would sell livestock from Nkaissery's Kajiado home to the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC).
However, seven days later they were summoned by the President himself who ordered them to go back to the army barracks and complete their army training.
"We were standing at attention and he [President Kenyatta] asked my friend Nkaissery, 'Wewe ndio umekataa kazi (Are you the one who has refused to work?)'. Nkaissery did another five attentions and said 'No Sir! No Sir!'
"So he looked at General Jackson Mulinge and told him, 'Hii vijana warudi kazi Lanet (Millitary Training College), yule atakataa umwache hapo Kamiti (Maximum Security Prison)' (Let these boys go back for training at Lanet and the one who will refuse, leave him at Kamiti Prison)," Captain (Rtd) Kung'u narrated.
The retired Captain observed that the tale was one of the late Major General's treasured memories which, before his sudden death, he had insisted should be re-told correctly.
Captain (Rtd) Muigai was among other distinguished guests who spoke highly of the late retired Major General Joseph Nkaissery during a memorial service held on July 13, 2017, at the Nairobi Baptist Church.
Here is a video of Captain (Rtd) Kungu's tribute to the Late General Joseph Nkaissery courtesy of KTN News.
[video:]
