Jomo Kenyatta lived, worked and studied in the UK for 15 years. So he had every opportunity to learn from a mature democracy how to run a country and a great city (London).

As the founding father of Kenya, He could have taken those lessons and applied them to Kenya especially Nairobi. There was an opportunity to learn from the mistakes London had made and copy the good things they had done.

By the time the Nairobi master plan was created around 1948, the city was basically a blank slate. Population was less than 100,000. Kenyatta could have set aside room for roads, hospitals, fire brigades, water sources etc. The city could have expanded in an orderly fashion.

Instead of using his knowledge for the good of the country, he went about selfishly grabbing every piece of land in site and encouraging his cohorts to do the same.

As someone pointed out above, much of the land he grabbed is land that should have been owned by the government and should have been used to build or expand much needed infrastructure and amenities.

Nairobi is a mess now with a population of 3 million. If you think traffic, water shortages or power outages are bad now, then wait ten years from now when the population reaches 5 million.

There is nothing commendable about what Kenyatta did. Most of our grandfathers did not have the inside knowledge that he had nor the power to grab any piece of land they wanted.

It is not foresight. It is inside knowledge. Having lived in London for 15 years, he knew that land near the capital will eventually appreciate in value. Most Kenyan peasants did not even know the city of Nairobi existed.

And he had control over which direction the city would expand and where roads would be built. He could easily direct that public money be spent building roads near farms that he owns. Does'nt the Nairobi- Nakuru highway pass right next to one of his largest farms?



And since he had absolute control, he could basically apportion himself any land he wanted. As founding father of the nation he should have acted in the common good of the people. Instead he acted for his own families benefit and to the detriment of other Kenyans.

Why the heck is this man being praised? Do we elect leaders to do good for the country or do we elect them to enrich their families?

Just for perspective. Mzee became president when he was 74 years old. He had very simple tastes, the man enjoyed just sitting down at lake Nakuru or Mombasa State House being entertained by Nyakinyua women dancers. Even when he was in Nairobi he lived in Gatundu and spent every night at home. I get the feeling he would have cared less about accumulating property. He however had a young wife who I hear is very business savvy. Most of the property was bought in her name. She accumulated land and was involved in ivory trade. She has only given one interview in her life when she spoke to Kameme a few years ago and in that interview she said, "Muthee agikua ndari na mbia, twendirie mugunda niguo ciana ithome" (When mzee died he did not have money, I had to sell land for the children to go to school." She said this in the same tone of voice that a woman with one acre speaks of selling a half acre of land. I think part of the reason Uhuru is so down to earth is because he probably grew up being told, "gutiri mbia." (There is no money.)

Share, there's enough for all

Kama hujui mtu then meet Gichuhi Kinyanjui who claims mzee stole his land