It has emerged that Kenya's first President, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, struck a deal with the British government to become the country's first Head of State.
According to reports, Kenyatta entered a secret pact where he would not interfere with the land distribution plan drafted by white settlers at independence.
In return, the British would clear his way as independent Kenya’s first leader.
This is according to secret papers of the late Sir Michael Blundell, a white settler leader who acted as the mediator between Kenyatta and the British government in sealing the deal.
[caption caption="Sir Michael Blundell"]
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Colonialists had already decided that Kenya would be granted independence in the 1960's but had not settled on a particular name of the leader.
Those in contention included; Tom Mboya, whom Blundell described as “a robust trade unionist and political schemer who had deep pockets, thanks to his American friends”.
The second was the “demagogic Oginga Odinga, who held great charm with the rural African folk but was clearly on the payroll of the Soviets”.
Ronald Ngala was the third man whom Blundell described as “an eccentric coastal preferred by the settlers and supported by the small ethnic communities, but who could not muster enough numbers to hold the new country together”.
The last possibility, wrote Blundell, was Jomo Kenyatta, whom he described as “the wild card of native politics in the colony”.
The colonialists decided to explore the option of approaching Kenyatta, who at the time was in prison, but on condition that he would personally give assurance that he had abandoned the extremist anti-white views he held before his imprisonment.
After a couple of secret meetings where Blundell reported “positive progress”, Kenyatta was relocated to, in the words of Blundell, a decent home in Mararal, “where he could be with his family, have a library and once in a while take a glass of his favourite wine”.
[caption caption="Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (Centre) and Tom Mboya"]
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Kenyatta had moments where he openly differed with colonialists, threatening his position as the next leader but he often stated that he had to do so for the sake of his supporters.
At one time, Mzee was in a dilemma regarding the redistribution of 10 million acres of arable land occupied by white settlers.
Kenyatta is said to have told local leaders that his hands were tied as he had committed himself to the white settlers that all land in the country would change hands only on a willing-seller-willing-buyer basis.
