30/08/2024
Who's Morara Kebaso Snr ? Before you get to know him, it's better to understand the spirit inside him.
He's the grandson of the young firebrand politician and West Mugirango MP George Morara who was assassinated by President Jomo Kenyatta’s state agents as part of a wider cover-up scheme of the assassination of Tom Mboya.
As he sipped his drink one late evening in Lusaka, Zambia, early September 1970, West Mugirango MP GEORGE JUSTUS MORARA bumped into Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge – the man who assassinated Constitutional Affairs Minister, Tom Mboya, on July 5, 1969.
An astonished Morara, who was among members of the Social Welfare and Employment parliamentary committee on official duty, confronted Njenga who, in panic, bolted out of the club. The government had announced the previous year that Njenga had been sentenced to death and hanged for shooting dead the powerful Cabinet minister along Nairobi’s Government Road (present-day Moi Avenue).
Upon arrival at Nairobi’s Embakasi Airport, Morara and a few members of the House team, chaired by Kandara MP George Mwicigi, headed to Parliament buildings for a scheduled press conference.
Without mincing words, Morara spilled the beans on the group’s encounter with Njenga in Lusaka, and gave the Government a 48-hour ultimatum to produce the Bulgarian-trained Njenga.
Forty-eight hours later, the MP was dead — killed in a suspicious road accident along the Kakamega-Kisumu highway. He was only 34 years old and was seen as one of the most promising politicians — even mentioned as a possible future president.
When indeed he made his maiden speech in Parliament in February 1970, Morara kicked off with bold observations on President Kenyatta: “Mr Speaker, I would like to make my maiden speech by making this point. His Excellency has an exceptionally good personality. However, he is being misguided and misled and being misadvised by some individuals who otherwise want to get the best of the national cake. And as a result the rest of the country suffers”.
And for the rest of the short stint in Parliament, the West Mugirango MP never shied away from criticising the government or publicly asking the Head of State to put his house in order. In one of the Hansard reports, he is quoted protesting at the government’s failure to address tribal conflicts.
“Right now while we are speaking in this House, Mr Speaker, some people are dying. There are daylight robberies, there are daylight raids of cattle and people are being killed. When they kill one, we kill 20. However this is nothing to be proud of. How can we live in peace when something is said in this House and nothing is done? The credibility and dignity of government have been challenged,” he protested at Deputy Speaker, Dr Munyua Waiyaki.
Morara’s sentiments may sound harmless and common place today, but at the time only a handful of politicians — including J.M Kariuki, Mark Mwithaga, Martin Shikuku among others — dared to challenge the President and his administration.
On the day he met his death, Morara is said to have been in the company of parliamentary colleagues Mark Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) and Nyarangi Moturi (North Mugirango). The trio reportedly left Nairobi for upcountry in Morara’s car, with his colleagues alighting (after a brief argument) in Nakuru.
Morara proceeded alone to Kakamega for official duty, including a meeting with his friend, Kakamega District Commissioner Ezekiel Nyarangi.
According to family sources, the DC tried to dissuade him from proceeding to Kisii that night where his wife and family were, but he insisted. He never made it. That evening he died near Chavakali market. Police reports indicate the MP, who was driving a Peugeot 404, registration number KKZ 058, was involved in a head-on collusion with a Police Land Rover, GK 1357, driven by Constable Fredrick Kugo.
Morara Kebaso is simply on mission completing what his grandfather had started back in 1970. Kijana arudi nyumbani tupee yeye kura come 2027.
Source; Nation