Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta was once inclined to release a convicted robber to go play for the country's national team.
The prisoner, Nicodemus Arudhi, was given a presidential pardon for one day as he was one of the finest payers and was needed in a match against Ghana.
He was a great player who played three international matches for Kenya against Togo, Mali and Cameroon in the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations.
[caption caption="File image of Nicodemus Arudhi during one of the football games"]
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According to football legend Joe Kadenge, Arudhi was given a 'temporary outing, with presidential approval.'
He further notes that among the spectators at the City Stadium on the day of his release were heavily armed prison wardens.
It is reported that after the game, the wardens cuffed him again and took him back to his cell in Kamiti Prison.
Arudhi had led a double life both on the pitch and in the underworld, was jailed several times and at one point was charged with murder.
In his biography, The Life of a Football Legend by John Nene, Kadenge further exclaims how Arudhi managed to maintain a balance between two seemingly conflicting lives.
Drafting in his blog, popular writer Owaahh explains that at the time Arudhi was released there seemed to have been no record of why he was jailed at the time.
He further states that most of Arudhi's colleagues knew about his other life but never brought it up.
His former colleague at Gor Mahia also divulged that there was a time when he stole an expensive suit from a man in Paris, in 1976.
Unfortunately, 16 years after his temporal release, Arudhi was shot in the back by Patrick Shaw, a lone ranger cop who is also reported to have led a double life.
[caption caption="File image of NASA leader Raila Odinga and football legend Joe Kadenge"]
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