A swimming pool in Kenya's first President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's home once caused disagreements which led to friction in his Cabinet.
Records indicate that Kenyatta had a get-away home in Bamburi, Mombasa County where he would go to unwind.
Mzee had a swimming pool in his compound and at one point, he left a herdsman to take care of it.
This was not such a brilliant idea as it later caused wrangles among some of his ministers.
It would later emerge that the herdsman only turned on the circulation system when he heard that Kenyatta was on his way back.
[caption caption="File Photo of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at State House"]
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According to an archival file at Bamburi beach cottage, during one of his visits to Bamburi, Kenyatta found his pool full of algae and was totally unimpressed.
He immediately summoned senior government officials to seek a solution and samples were sent to Nairobi.
This led to wrangles in the cabinet as Defence Minister Dr Njoroge Mungai and Kenyatta’s private secretary Eliud Mathu disagreed over a Local Purchase Order after Mungai ordered lime from Smith Mackenzie & Company to clean the pool without consulting the Secretary.
Since there was no LPO, the company thought they should bill State House Mombasa and the invoice ended up on Mr Mathu’s desk.
Mathu and Mungai never saw eye to eye and the latter refused to clear the bill.
“I gave no authority for this expenditure, I suggest that correspondence should be carried out between yourselves, Smith Mackenzie & Company and the person who placed the order,” he wrote.
According to the Nation, the company then tried to bill the office of the Provincial Commissioner, then under Isaiah Mathenge but the accountant, Mr A.O. Achoki, also refused to pay for the expenses.
"I also decline to be party to this order. Since instructions (to order the lime) came neither from my office nor his Excellency’s office, I suggest you contact Ministry of Defence whose minister (Dr Njoroge Mungai) did, in fact, place the order," stated Achoki.
It is, however, unclear who cleared the bill.
[caption caption="Photo of a Letter From State House to the Provincial Accountant"]
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