Fallen leader persuaded me not to join the army: Musila
Raphael Mulatya
Former Kitui Senator David Musila has narrated how the late Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae persuaded him not to join the military after frustrations in the provincial administration.
The former Senator was then a newly recruited District Officer posted to Naivasha division with Nyachae as the District Commissioner in Nakuru.
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Musila’s decision arose from suspicions following widespread speculation that senior members of the Kamba community were behind a plot to overthrow the Jomo Kenyatta government from power.
“In 1971, I served as a District Officer in Nakuru when there was widespread talk about a coup allegedly organised by Major General Ndolo, the head of Kenya Army.
Most of the people accused of the plot to overthrow the government were prominent Kamba personalities both in the civil service and the military,” writes Musila in his memoir, Seasons of Hope.
“My District Commissioner then Mwangi Gichohi viewed me with suspicion. Being a Kamba fitted into a stereotype image of a coup plotter and it was difficult time for me until I decided to quit, but Mr Nyachae stood with me,” he narrates.
Musila had successfully applied and was recruited into the Kenya Army with help of his tribesman, then Brigadier Jackson Mulinge.
Due to his respect for Nyachae who had moved to be the Provincial Commissioner in Central, he went to his office in Nyeri to inform him that he was leaving the provincial administration for the Kenya Army.
“I gave him the appointment letter, but after reading it he told me to go and throw it in the dustbin,” writes the former Kitui Senator who is a member of the Nyachae funeral commitee.
In 1973, Nyachae’s request to have Musila transferred to the Nyeri PC’s office to serve as his personal assistant was granted, cementing the close ties between the two men.
“Towards the end of 1974, Nyachae recommended that I be elevated to the position of DC, and this was granted and I was deployed to Tana River.
I would be in charge of the district for two years before being transferred to Kirinyaga district back in Central to reunite with him,” writes the veteran politician. He describes Nyachae as a mentor.
