obituaries
Charles Mugane Njonjo EGH In January 2022 at the grand old age of 101 years and eleven months, Muthaiga Country Club and Kenya lost an individual who had lived a most remarkable life, and lived it to the full. Up until very recently (and when he was well into his nineties) Charles would often be seen driving himself to the Club, usually for a good lunch with his many, many friends, and of course resplendent, at all times, in his signature chalk-striped suit. Noone ever had quite the panache or the sartorial eloquence, or indeed elegance, of Charles. Charles’ father was a colonial era Senior Chief. He was sent to school at Alliance High School and from there he went to King’s College Budo in Uganda where he met and developed a very close friendship with the then Kabaka of Buganda. He went on to study at Adams College, Durban and Fort Hare University, Grahamstown. Arriving in England in the early 1950s came as an unexpected shock. It was more unwelcoming and racist than South Africa. Still struggling with post War poverty, life for black students was not easy. Stories of racist landladies and painful discrimination were part of the challenges Charles faced on his way to University College Exeter to study Public Administration, despite his desire to study Law. From Exeter he moved to London and began a protracted struggle with the Colonial Office and the Council for Legal Education, who were reluctant to provide further funding for him to study Law. Undaunted, he found enough money to pay his rent or, as he used to say, ‘enjoy a good meal’ with his friend Seretse Khama who was to become the Founding President of Botswana. His friendship with Seretse was one of the great joys of his student years, culminating in Charles being Seretse’s Best Man at his marriage to Ruth Williams. (One of his many godsons who attended his 100th birthday celebration was the former President of Botswana, Lieutenant General Dr. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, son of Seretse and Ruth, who were the subject of the film ‘A United Kingdom,’ about the controversy, on all sides, surrounding their interracial marriage. Charles, as their Best Man, was portrayed in the film by Ugandan actor, Arnold Oceng.) Charles was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1952 and was a pupil in the Chambers of Lord Elwyn Jones, who was a Nuremberg War Trials prosecutor and a Labour Party MP. Charles returned to Kenya in 1955. Once more he was faced with obstruction and racial prejudice. There was no ‘appropriate’ vacancy for a ‘Native’ Barrister. He was eventually posted to Mombasa in 1957 as Assistant Registrar General and Deputy Official Receiver. In 1963 he became the Republic of Kenya’s first Attorney-General and, until his death, was the last surviving member of the first post-Independence Cabinet. Post-Independence Charles was not a supporter of the East African community and at that time was known to have many public spats with the late Julius Nyerere, founding President of Tanzania, famously responding to Nyerere’s vituperative comment www.mcc.co.ke
January 1920 - January 2022 that Kenya’s brand of capitalism was nothing more than ‘dog eat dog’ with a wry observation that at least it was ‘better than a man eat nothing society’. Charles continued in the office of A-G until 1979 at which time he was elected as the MP of the Kikuyu Constituency. He returned to the Cabinet of President Moi as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. In 1983 he resigned from Government in the wake of allegations that he was involved in the abortive attempted coup of August 1982. He faced a lengthy Presidential Commission of Enquiry chaired by the then Chief Justice, Cecil MiIler; He received a Presidential pardon and, although he forged a new and enduring friendship with the late President Moi, he decided to remove himself from political life from that time. Charles was a great philanthropist and was a long serving trustee of the Thomas Barnado’s Children Home. In 1998 President Moi invited Charles to chair the Bomb Disaster Fund set up in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks that year in Nairobi. He was also Chairman of the East Africa Wildlife Society and was proud of being part of the preservation of Kenya’s water towers as a trustee of the Rhino Ark Charitable Trust. He also chaired the Board of Trustees of the Kenya Wildlife Service and celebrated his 100th birthday in 2020 by visiting the Great Lakes region to view the gorillas. Charles had a deep love of the arts and culture generally and had a particular soft spot for the Nairobi Chamber Choir, led by the irrepressible Ken Wakia. Charles accompanied the Choir to Windsor, west of London, where they performed before Queen Elizabeth II at her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, after which Charles and Margaret were invited to stay at Buckingham Palace as guests of the Queen and Prince Philip. Family was everything to Charles, he married Margaret Bryson in 1972 and they were blessed with three children, Wairimu – ‘Nimu’ – Mary Wambui and Josiah David and grandchildren abound. Charles was a warm, magnanimous, congenial man, with a wonderful sense of humour. He was deeply compassionate, loving and generous in the extreme. He had time for everyone - prince and pauper, regardless of colour or creed. He embodied the soul of Muthaiga Country Club and we shall miss him very much indeed. Charles was a Member of the Club for 52 years. Rest in Peace Charles Mugane Njonjo EGH.
July - September 2022 Muthaiga Country Club
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