Former Mwingi South Member of Parliament and a close ally to the late President Mwai Kibaki, David Musila, has detailed how he hid the late Head of State in a store during the 1982 coup.
Speaking to Citizen TV on Wednesday, April 27, Musila revealed that he took upon himself the primary duty to secure Kibaki - who was then the country's Vice President.
Musila - in laying bare the 40-year old secret - explained that he hid the former VP in a store at a Nyeri club, a place he says remains a top security secret between him and the departed former Head of State.
"When it was announced that there was a coup in 1982, my first duty was to look for my Vice President. Since it was on a weekend, he used to work from Central Province," Musila stated.
"I decided to put him in a store at a Nyeri club, it has been a secret ever since, it is just now that I'm disclosing where I put my Vice President."
Musila - who at the time was serving as the Provincial Commissioner (PC) for Central Kenya - explained that his decision to hide Kibaki in a store despite it being stuffy and unhygienic, was informed by the need to secure him from the coup plotters.
He explained that it was not easy for the coup plotters to imagine a Vice President would be in such a dingy place.
Initially in his memoir, Seasons of Hope, Musila had disclosed that he saved Kibaki's life twice.
The first instance was during the 1982 attempted coup which was shrouded with a lot of secrets. At that time, Musila hurriedly deployed his entourage and contingent of armed police officers to evacuate Kibaki from his Othaya home.
"I called him to find out if he was safe and informed him that I was sending a senior police officer whom he knew well to pick him up. It was important I sent someone he could trust, so I sent Samuel Wathome, the then Provincial Special Branch Officer," Musila recalled.
He recounted seeing Kibaki feeble after the attempted coup and he could feel the fear in his veins.
"We feared that there were soldiers in Nyeri town who could attack us or who could have been closing in from the Nanyuki Airforce base, where the coup was being plotted. When Kibaki arrived in Nyeri, I could see that he was shaken, after all he was the Vice President in the government that had just been toppled," Musila recounted.
He carried out the whole rescue operation till normalcy was restored and called the then President, Daniel Arap Moi informing him that his Vice President was safe.
Musila recounted saving Kibaki's life during December 2002 presidential campaigns when the late President was involved in a road accident.
After a rally at the Machakos turnoff, Kibaki's Range Rover landed in a ditch. He was hurt as crowds gathered to witness what had happened.
"I jumped out of my car and took control of the situation with a crowd milling at the scene. We pulled him out but he was in so much pain that we couldn’t wait for an ambulance, so we put him in the back seat of my car and drove towards Nairobi," Musila recalled.
He further revealed the instructions Kibaki gave him telling him to call his son and his personal doctor following the accident.
With all their friendship ties, Musila noted that Kenya will miss a revolutionary leader and a political gentleman.
