An assassination, a troubled daughter and a book

The late JM Kariuki was a popular, wealthy and extravagant Kenyan politician who died as mysteriously as he lived. I expected the book to unravel the mystery surrounding around JM’s death, or at least to make a valiant attempt to do so. On this front, the book is stillborn at birth.

Although the writer claims that her search for JM’s murderers was not in vain, she does not reveal who they are in the book. There is hurried mention of the search for JM’s wealth, but no indication about what was recovered as a result.

I Am My Father’s Daughter does succeed in holding your attention through the coming of age of an innocent orphaned girl, who once pampered, suddenly finds herself standing alone in a crowd of indifferent adults. 

JM Kariuki, former member of parliament for Nyandarua North was murdered On March 2 1975, his body abandoned on hyena path in Ngong Hills.

At Msongari Convent in Eldoret, Rosemary Wanjiku Kariuki, his 11 year-old daughter wen on with her life, unwitting to what had happened to her father.

One evening, a friend dashed into the room and asked Wanjiku if she had read the day’s newspaper.

“My intuition told me that something was seriously wrong,” recalls Wanjiku.

Despite a rising sense of foreboding, however, she did best she could to go through her evening and night routine. It was not easy. She had read that the father was on a foreign trip but could not confirm the veracity of the report. What was going on?

The following morning, a nun came into the dormitory and requested Wanjiku to accompany her to the headmistress’ office.

Heartbreaking news
Her father had been found, the headmistress told her once she was there. Unfortunately, he was dead.

Before he was murdered, there had been a spate of bombings in Nairobi. On the day prior to JM’s murder, a bomb had exploded near the OTC depot, killing 27 people.

On that day, JM had met Ben Gethi who was the commandant of the General Service Unit (GSU) and had talked on the phone with Peter Kinyanjui who also went by the alias Mark Twist and who was described by the parliamentary probe committee report on the murder of JM as a criminal of the worst possible character.

On the Sunday, the day on which JM is thought to have met his demise, he had attended a horse racing event at the Ngong Racecourse where he was spotted with Ben Gethi.

Later he was spotted again at the Hilton Hotel, in conversation.

They then departed separately. He was murdered between one and two hours later, under circumstances that still remain unclear.

Last moment
The post-mortem report disclosed that five shots had been fired into his body, causing his death.

Wanjiku’s last opportunity to see her father was in February, 1975.

To date, says Wanjiru, the fragrance of Old Spice cologne that was JM’s signature scent reminds her of that last moment with her dad.

Through primary school and high school, Wanjiku was a disturbed child, haunted by the image of her departed father. After high school, she fled the country to the USA.

Nagging questions about what happened to her father convinced her that she needed to travel back home in search of the answers.

The book is available in bookstores at Sh500.