Man who Saved Kenyatta while in detention passes on, family seek audience with Uhuru to fulfill his Dad’s promise

 The Late Mzee Thomas Magero Oluk and his wife in a family portrait photo-Photos By James Keyi 

By Dickson Odhiambo

April 9, 2022

Man who Saved Kenyatta while in detention passes on, family seek audience with Uhuru to fulfill his Dad’s promise

During the struggle for freedom in 50s for Kenya to get Independence in 1963, various Kenyans played greater roles in such a struggle.

One of the figures who was in this struggle without being noticed is a man by the name Thomas Magero Oluk who hails from Kowidi Village in Kabondo-Kasipul constituency within Nyanza Region.

For Oluk 89, who died on March 25 this year and will be buried on Tuesday April 12, he begun the struggle towards freeing this country from the colonial yoke around 1955 when he was working at the Ministry of Public works where he was posted in Turkana and Kitale areas.

During such a time, most Mau Mau captives were being detained in Turkana, Kapenguria among other areas and this is where Kenya’s Founding Father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was being detained.

According to the late Mzee Oluk’s son Malachi Opiyo Magero, his father begun working with the Ministry of Public Works where he was posted in Lokitung area in Turkana and during that time it happened that former President Mzee Kenyatta was being detained within that area for being part of Mau Mau movement.

Opiyo says during that time his father worked even at the detention camp at Lokitung where one day during his working hours, he heard a man groaning in pain and he became curious to check what was happening.

“My dad who was working as an employee of the Ministry of Public Works within Lokitung camp realized that someone was groaning in pain and went to check what was happening,” he says

Opiyo says to his dad’s surprise, he found that the man was Jomo Kenyatta who was there and had been there for torturing and liquidation, adding that Kenyatta identified himself to Opiyo’s dad and told him how he was being tortured and suffering a lot where he was being detained.

According to Opiyo, his father was the first Kenyan to discover that Mzee Kenyatta was being detained in those parts of the country, adding that after such discovery, he travelled to Kitale and shared the issue with Standard newspaper which highlighted the issue about the torture of Mzee Kenyatta.

He says the issue was also highlighted by the British Broadcasting Corporation {BBC} and the world knew what was happening.

After such highlight, Mzee Kenyatta reportedly taken to Kapenguria where he met the other detainees like Kungu Karumba, Bildad Kaggia, Achieng Oneko, Paul Ngei where they became the infamous Kapenguria Six.

Immediately Oluk interacted with Kenyatta, he developed interest in helping the Kapenguria six in a little way he could by start supplying them with drinking water but this did not go down well with some white prison warden officers.

According to his son Mr Opiyo, One morning as he gave the drinking water to one the Kapenguria six, a Prison warden spotted him and reported the matter to his seniors and hell broke loose for Oluk.

He did not know that what he was doing as a way of being a gentlemen was going to cause him dearly.

Opiyo says his father had six lower teeth removed because he claimed he was a Luo  yet had never had his six lower teeth removed as per the Luo tradition.

Mzee Oluk's Son Malachi Opiyo Magero during a media interview in Kisumu

“A fellow African had to perform the act of removing my dad’s six lower teeth as a punishment meted on him after he was found supplying water to the Mau Mau inmates and being a sympathizer of Mau Mau dissidents. They were in the process of taking him to another detention camp but resolved to remove his six lower teeth using a pliers as a form of punishment them left,” he says.

It was a tradition among the Luo Community that six lower teeth were removed for identification but for Oluk’s case his was not removed because he was a staunch Seventh Day Adventist{SDA} whose church did not support such practice.

He adds that after the incident, his dad stayed in hospital for nearly 40 days after which he fled to Uganda for fear of his life where he trained as a driver before coming back to Kenya.

Opiyo says former Trade Unionist and Cabinet Minister in charge of Justice and constitutional Affair Tom Mboya got wind that there was a Kenyan who was ready to be in the frontline of fighting for Kenya’s Independence and quickly agitated for his comeback to Kenya.

When he finally arrived in Kenya, Mboya secured him a job as a driver with the East African Breweries Limited where he supplied liquor to Uganda and other countries of East African.

He says his father contributed to the fight for freedom in Kenya in the Pre-independence years and later when the country got its Independence in 1963 he was among the few people the Kenyatta Government was going compensate for a putting their best foot forward towards the fight for freedom.

“Mzee Kenyatta who was the Nation’s founding Father realized that my father played a major role in the fight for freedom in our Country and promised him land of about 100 acres in Koru area within Kisumu County. This was now in 1967 but his predicament came when some very powerful people around the Presidency ensured that the President delayed in giving my dad the title deed for that particular land because they were also interested,” he says.

He says Former President Kenyatta kept on saying that Mzee Oluk should have been given something and kept on asking what the Minister for Lands and Settlement was doing about it.

“This was delayed until Mzee Kenyatta passed on in 1978 and this dashed our dad’s hope of getting what President Kenyatta wanted to give him as a freedom fighter,” he further says.

Opiyo says his father tried to communicate to State House when former President Moi took power in 1978 by writing a letter to the Head of State but the response was that such an agreement was a personal one between him and the Former President Kenyatta and the then regime knew nothing about it.

“My father remains an icon who contributed a lot in the struggle for the freedom in our country but has never been recognized even by awarding him Head of State Commendation award that some people have been awarded in this country or any other kind of recognition,” he adds.

He adds that the only recognition his late dad got was during the celebration of National Days at their home area of Rachuonyo and Homa Bay County when he was being asked to give talks on how they fought for Independence.

As the family buries their beloved dad, they  appeals to President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and ensure that the late Mzee Oluk’s name enters somewhere as one of the people who fought for the freedom in Kenya.

“My dad worked closely with Tom Mboya during the airlifts to students who were going to the United States of America in late 50s and early 60s and later worked with Mzee Jomo Kenyatta hence we feel he deserves recognition because he is an icon and a hero who should be recognized,” Opiyo concludes.