I first met the legendary Voice Of Kenya (VOK) radio broadcaster, Leonard Mambo Mbotela, my childhood idol, in 1983. This was shortly after the aborted August 1 1982 coup, which was staged by rebel Airforce soldiers, in an attempt to overthrow the then nascent government of Daniel Arap Moi. As it were, the veteran radio broadcaster, famous for his highly popular radio show "Je, Huu ni Ungwana" would find himself in the thick of things, as the main coup plotters had at the crack of dawn on that fateful Sunday morning, picked him from his house in Ngara and escorted him to VOK, now Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (Broadcasting House), where, at gunpoint, they forced him to read a statement announcing the "short-lived" coup. The venue of my initial meeting with the remarkable and phenomenal broadcaster was "Bam Bam" Bar on Eastleigh's 1st Avenue, 12th street, an entertainment joint, patronised mostly by people from the Mijikenda community living in Nairobi. I was personally introduced to the legendary broadcaster by Musa Kitunga Jefwah (now deceased) who was then an Editor with Taifa Leo.
Jefwah had earlier left Vthe OK newsroom to join the Nation Media Group. I was then 21, and was at the time helping out my father at his tea and grocery kiosk, also located on Eastleigh's 12th street, having earlier finished my Advanced level secondary school education, as I waited to join a University in India - That did not, in a "twist of fate", happen.
I was also at the same time looking for a job at VoK, through one of my father's friends, who was a senior government Human Resource official. It is through the separate combined efforts of both my father and Jefwah, that shortly thereafter I secured a part-time job at the VoK newsroom, which thereafter translated into both a permanent and pensionable job. That is how the story of my joining University in India came to an abrupt end. I had also met Jefwah during the tough and tense period that followed the failed coup a few days after Moi declared a 24hr curfew, which was later reduced to 12hrs upon return to normalcy as people started trouping back to the City. Jefwah lived in a house on a nearby "Wood street," later "nicknamed," Jam street which is today the home of the famous Garissa Lodge.
In the aftermath of the failed coup, my father's kiosk happened to be one of the only few kiosks which remained open in the "volatile" neighbourhood, thanks to my deep desire to serve my customers, even under the then difficult situation. As it were, I had on the night of the attempted coup, found myself on the night shift at my father's kiosk which was a 24hr outfit.
