J. M. Kariuki was murdered by government unknown operatives in 1975. One of his more famous speeches goes to the heart of Kenya’s problem…

A small but powerful group of greedy, self-seeking elite in the form of politicians, civil servants, and businessmen has steadily but very surely monopolized the fruits of independence to the exclusion of the majority of the people – we do not want a Kenya of 10 millionaires and 10,000,000 beggars.

I believe firmly that substituting Kamau for Smith, Odongo for Jones and Kiplangat for Keith does not solve what the gallant fighters of our uhuru considered an imposed and undesirable social injustice.

This is a deplorable state of things. Nepotism and tribalism have set in …. These are evil and must be condemned in no uncertain terms. We must all join hands to eliminate them and restore credibility to our public life. We must strive to ensure that the next generation will not blame us for having failed to correct the strains of public life.