How Ruto’s aborted trip to Uganda mirrors Jaramogi’s woes in 1966

Reports that Deputy President William Ruto was recently blocked from flying to Uganda echo the woes of Kenya’s first vice-president Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in October 1966 at Embakasi Airport and Busia border post.

According to documents declassified in London and seen by the Sunday Nation, the only difference is that while Ruto still enjoys some trappings of power, Jaramogi had by then just resigned as vice-president after disagreeing with President Jomo Kenyatta, and was treated in the most humiliating manner.

Happening at the height of Cold War when the Western press had great interest in local ideological wars, the incident was given great prominence in British newspapers.

“Mr Odinga stripped at border,” said the Guardian, while a teaser in the Telegraph screamed, “Kenya police strip and search Odinga, held for 2hrs on border.”

This was part of a wider scheme by a powerful cabal to frustrate and incapacitate financially those who were perceived as the biggest threats to their ‘Kenyatta succession equation’ such as Jaramogi and Cabinet minister Tom Mboya. 

Even though Mboya (who was assassinated in 1969) was in the government, just like Jaramogi, his political and financial links had to be curtailed at all costs. His letters were opened by the Special Branch and some of his American visitors deported on suspicion they were bringing him money. To evade the prying eyes of these spies, he resorted to using proxies to receive mails from abroad. 

The charismatic and combative Jaramogi who had resigned from the government, was now leading the opposition under the banner of Kenya People’s Union (KPU) and had become Kenyatta’s most vociferous opponent. His many contacts in the Soviet Union, his friendship with disgruntled freedom fighters in central province and his compact support base in Nyanza made him a threat.

Minister for Home Affairs Daniel arap Moi, who was leading the onslaught on behalf of the Gatundu group, would later tell parliament that Kenya would not allow money to come into this country for subversive purposes and to disrupt peace.

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There was growing suspicion that Jaramogi was using Uganda and Tanzania to receive money from the Soviet Union. This heightened when Jaramogi visited Uganda between August 26 and 28, 1966, to deliver a lecture at Makerere University. Moi claimed during the visit Jaramogi also made efforts to seek assistance from various foreign embassy.

On October 7, 1966, Moi and Jaramogi engaged in a heated debate when the latter moved a motion calling for the release of some KPU politicians who had been arrested and detained by the government. Shortly after this debate , Jaramogi left for the airport to catch a plane to Uganda where he was to attend the country’s independence anniversary celebrations.

According to a cable dated October 14, 1966, reference POL 368/19/4, immigration and police officers were under firm instructions to block him from travelling by confiscating his passport.

“From the same source we understand that the officials had orders originating from President Kenyatta to confiscate Odinga’s passport,” read the cable, which cited the source of information as two European Kenya police officers who were involved in the mission to block Jaramogi. 

The former vice-president arrived at the airport and went for his East African Airways flight No. EC 315. Well aware of plans to block him from travelling, and since one did not need a passport to travel within East Africa, Jaramogi had used his grandfather’s name ‘Raila Rapinda’ to book his ticket. This made him go through the airport gates without being recognised.

However, an immigration officer and three police officers who had been waiting for him at the airport were able to spot him and pursued him. The cable claim Jaramogi was angry and gave the officers a severe scolding. “We learn in strict confidence from police sources that he was most outspoken with officials .” 

To two European police officers he said, “You are just as bad as Voster (South Africa’s apartheid government’s prime minister)” and he strongly criticised the African officer present as a coward for letting Europeans do his dirty work. Passports were never required for journeys between Kenya and Uganda, so Jaramogi didn’t have his, and the government’s plan was frustrated. After intense negotiations and a search, he was allowed to fly to Uganda.

After two days in Kampala, Jaramogi decided to make his way to Kenya by road via Busia. However, on reaching the border post, he was stopped by police officers who demanded to search him and his car. He refused and a provincial police officer had to be called to deal with the situation. After a long standoff, a search was eventually conducted but nothing was found.

'Strip almost naked'

A statement issued by his spokesperson following the incident stated that the Kenya opposition leader was made to “strip almost naked” when he was detained for two hours at the border post. The matter found its way on the floor of the House on October 11, 1966, when Tom Okello Odongo, the KPU member for Kisumu Rural , demanded an explanation from Moi.

According to Kenya parliamentary Hansard of October 11, 1966, Okello-Odongo asked, “Mr Speaker  Sir, I wish to ask the following question by private notice, would the minister tell this House why the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Oginga Odinga was detained and searched by the police at Busia while travelling from Uganda?” he asked .

Moi gave a lengthy response accusing Jaramogi of using a fictitious name to travel to Uganda where he had already made prior arrangements to collect money from some foreign embassies.

“Having booked under a false name , Mr Speaker, the real Mr Odinga , passed through the airport control points unidentified for immigration purposes. However, the immigration officers on duty became suspicious when they saw him swiftly pass the gates to board without being shown on the passenger manifest giving names of passengers. An immigration officer immediately proceeded to the aircraft to ascertain from Mr Odinga that he was travelling, and a search took place.”

Moi went on to reveal that when Jaramogi arrived at Entebbe at 14:10 hours , he gave a false declaration to the immigration authorities withholding his proper name and declaring on the immigration form ‘R. Rapinda’ as his real name. He was then picked up by an unknown person, whose real name the minister refused to reveal in parliament for security reasons, and was booked in room No. 47 in the Silver Hotel Kampala, using the name of his bodyguard.

According to the minister, he had substantial evidence that Odinga did not attend the independence anniversary celebrations but had instead spent most of his time visiting embassies and one particular “foreign mission residence at night” to collect funds.

On his way to Kenya, Moi claimed, Jaramogi arrived at the border post in a Ugandan marked vehicle “USJ 914”, when he was stopped by the police for a search. Despite all the indications that the inquisition was politically motivated, Moi misleadingly told parliament that the search “had nothing to do whatsoever with the Hon . Mr Oginga Odinga as Leader of the Opposition.” 

He went on to claim that Jaramogi refused to be searched and a senior police officer had to be called from Kisumu. However, according to the minister, when the officer arrived Jaramogi was already drunk having “consumed a good three quarters of a bottle of whisky and worked himself into a hilarious state.” In this state, Moi claimed, when Jaramogi was informed a search had to be conducted, “he voluntary stripped himself of his clothes, reducing his dressed condition to the bare minimum in a public place.”

Communist money

On October 12 1966, a day after Moi’s response in parliament, a spokesman of the Ugandan Ministry for Internal Affairs released a statement confirming Jaramogi’s visit to the country. He emphasised that Uganda had not received any request from Kenya to deny Jaramogi entry, and therefore the KPU leader had entered Uganda in the normal way as all Kenyan citizens.

That same day Jaramogi called a press conference during which he denied Moi’s allegations that he had visited Uganda under an assumed name to collect Communist money. “It’s a sensational fabrication,” he said adding that, “In all decency he owes me an apology.”

According to him, apart from attending independence celebrations, he was also in Uganda to consult lawyers on the question of members of his party who had been detained by the government.

He clarified that Rapinda was his grandfather, he was named after. The KPU leader denied receiving any money in Uganda pointing out that he only had 1000 shillings in his pocket when he was stripped by the police at Busia.

He further denied misbehaving, revealing that he had not touched whisky for six years.” Kanu countered Jaramogi’s press conference by issuing a statement the following day in which they described his story as far from the truth.

“His claim that he has not touched a drop of scotch for six years, is the biggest lie of the century.”

Kanu’s position would later be discounted by MP Preston, the First Secretary at the British High Commissioner, who after meeting Duncan Ndegwa in Kampala wrote to the Commonwealth Office on 17 October 1966, “During the weekend I met, in Kampala, Ndegwa, the planning officer of the Government of Kenya who told me that it is literally true that Jaramogi has not touched a drop of scotch whisky for six years.”

The writer is a London-based Kenyan researcher and journalist.