The powerful attractive commissioner who banned funerals in post-colonial Kenya

“Too much sophistication runs contrary to African aspirations. It would be a mockery to African culture.” Said Mr Cheluget in a ceremony held at the Teachers College in Kisumu, Kenya. His school of thought argued that it would not make any sense to ape the same foreigners who had in fact scourged the country during their colonial rule.

He instead encouraged musicians in Nyanza to “Think African”. With his guttural voice, he urged them to ensure that their music does not succumb to the ‘insidious foreign influence’. He told a crowd as he prepared his Province for Kenyatta day celebrations in the December of 1973.

And his loyalty to Mzee Jomo Kenyatta would effortlessly pop up at every stop he made, “Compose songs praising Mzee, and make sure it’s a set-piece!” He knew for that matter, knew what a set-piece was and that was in the seventies!

I introduce to you, Mr Isaiah Kiplang’at Cheluget: A Provincial Commissioner in charge of the then Nyanza Province, Kenya from the start of 1969 to mid of 1980, serving two presidents of the Republic of Kenya.

He was a no-nonsense PC; he kept time, shouted down government officers and bullied those he thought were wrong. He would tell them as it is, on their face; under the scorching sun, in front of their wives and he did not simply care. The colonial influence had for some reason taken a better part of him.

The development of Nyanza at one point in time was pegged on this man’s decisions and actions.

I.K Cheluget, as newspapers fondly called him, was meticulous in his duty, tough on his orders, attractive in the eyes of controversies.

How had a man from a small village in Bureti Sub-County in Kericho gotten so close to President Jomo Kenyatta? How had he even landed himself such a powerful post?

Well, after the interregnum, Jomo Kenyatta appointed seven Provincial Commissioners whom he had personally hand-picked for the position. Two of his choices were conspicuously glaring: Simeon Nyachae and Isaiah Cheluget.

Mr Nyachae’s appointment to Central province was clouded by controversies and by ‘we-want-our-own’ tribal forces: It was a difficult, slippery act of ethnic balance at the time. Jomo nevertheless, would not rescind his decision. That was Jomo for you.

The men he had anointed as Charles Hornby highlights in his book- A History Since Independence, were powerful, intelligent and able, and they effectively ran Kenya in the interest of Mzee Kenyatta, sometimes for themselves and eventually for the independent Kenya.

Hornsby writes that the men Jomo Kenyatta had appointed had inherited the colonial state of mind.  “They disliked local politicians, whom they treated as competitors, and made no pretence of democracy.”

Isaiah Kiplang’at Cheluget is said to have been hoisted to the position of PC by the President not just because of his character and loyalty, but because of Moi’s influence. Hornby in his controversial book adds that the move by Kenyatta to ensure that the Luo were governed not by a Kikuyu, but by a Kipsigis, was deceit egged in strategy. But who would know?

Was it true that Cheluget had been hoisted? Well, the fact is that he had risen up the chain from a mere agricultural extension officer. His first notable position was as a District Officer Embu District, Central Province on 1st January 1962.  

His next government position: Gazette notice no. 892 acknowledged The Public Service Commission appointment of “Isaiah Kiplang’at Arap Cheluget to be Senior District commissioner, Provincial Administration with effect from 19th April 1965”

He would be appointed at the same time with Wahiko Nathan Fedha who became Archivist at the Office of Vice President.  (Fedha estate in Embakasi would later be named after this archivist).

On the 1st of September 1967, together with Charles Karuga Koinange, Mr Cheluget was appointed the Deputy PC and would at that effect be posted to Coast Province, one of Jomo Kenyatta’s favourite destinations.  

But two years later at the rise of Jaramogi Oginga’s Kenya People Union (KPU) and increased political tension, Jomo Kenyatta appoint Cheluget as PC Nyanza Province. Back then, the provincial administration was unusually powerful and PCs held real authority even though that still highly depended on the trust of Mzee Kenyatta.  

Whichever way you look at it, Jomo is said to have believed in Cheluget’s bullish character and trusted him to handle a province that had proved rebellious after Jaramogi walked out of his Vice President’s position and demonstrated against some decisions made by Mzee.

No More Funerals People and Transfer plea

One time there was a hue and cry among the Luo community when the Cheluget banned funeral ceremonies in the region. He had then attended a ceremony where he would launch a series of development projects in Maseno.

 “Too much drama going on in burials,” he said, to the shock of the residents. He ordered chiefs and District Commissioners to ensure this was effected to the latter.

When this was opposed by leaders from the province, he defended his actions saying that the move was not political but a cultural, social and economic measure to minimize ills…..and to also reduce the spread of cholera! Yes, you read that right, Cholera.

Well, the real reason, it would later emerge was that he had received intelligence that Kenya People Union (KPU) cohorts were using these ceremonies to spread what he called petty propaganda meant to soil the name of his friend Kenyatta and that of government. KPU it should be pointed out was seen as a huge obstruction to Kanu’s smooth rule in the region.

Mr Cheluget’s controversial remarks would attract criticism and uproar as Members of Parliament from Nyanza moved a motion in parliament seeking to transfer the PC in the sunset of 1977.  

“He is too much and his relations with people has surely deteriorated,” a furious Mr Ogingo, Mp from South Nyanza said.  A few days later, however, there was row and scuffle in the house of parliament when a private notice calling for the transfers of Cheluget was withdrawn.

Mr Charles Njonjo the Attorney general, who was a close ally of Vice President Moi, would, however, defend the move saying that the Nyanza PC, was as opposed to the MPs’ sentiments, a gregarious, straight-forward gentleman who was development driven and tailored for Nyanza. Whatever that meant.

A few months later in March of 1978, Mzee Kenyatta would agree to meet a delegation from the Luo community at State House Nakuru who had requested to see him over some pressing issues.

Two things actually had taken them to State House: One is that they wanted the President to visit Nyanza Province. (Kenyatta had not stepped back to Kisumu since the nasty ‘ndume’ incidence of ’69). The second was a special request that they had kept under wraps.

Thousands of people from the Luo community reportedly walked through the gates of State House Nakuru on the appointed day.

Kenyatta, a keen listener himself, paid attention to the elders, his whisk occasionally dancing to the sweep of his arm. His pointed chin, which was profoundly getting decorated with old age shifting restlessly as if he wanted to utter something. His piercing eyes guarded the lips of elders as they stammered their complaints to him.

In the second special request, they told the President to at least consider bringing a new PC to the region; someone with fresh blood, someone to hype things up.

“Unajua maana ya serikali? “ Kenyatta asked. Clueless or perhaps intimidated by the question they responded with silence.

He told the delegation that Mr Cheluget was by far his best performing PC in Kanu administration. (This could also mean he had ordained all the actions by the PC) “Serikali ni siri kali”.  With that mic-dropping line, he sent the wazees back and told them that there was no way he was going to move Cheluget from Nyanza- A move that would widen the existing rift.

Kenyatta died in the August of that year without ever visiting Kisumu again.  Nyanza would make history as the province that went for over ten years without setting their eyes on their very own president. (Moi went to Kisumu in 1981, two years after he became President)

Well, the delegation headed back murmuring and disappointed: It was not just because they had been turned down by Jomo, but also because they knew that the tough Cheluget would definitely get wind of their delegation to push for his transfer, and it would not be a rosy affair.

‘The attractive man chased away a minister’

There are those who loved him, those who even adored him. One such man was Mr William Odongo Omamo.  He was an outgoing, colourful, comical Member of Parliament from Bondo and the Minister of Natural Resources. Kanu had ostensibly propelled Odongo to prominence, serving as an MP in absence of Jaramogi when he was placed in political detention by Kenyatta.

In one debate in the July of 1973 as the minister beckoned the office of President to advise Mzee to visit Nyanza, he tickled the house when he said that Mr Cheluget was in fact an attractive man. Part of his long speech on parliament session:

“Sir my concern in this debate is this: Why is it that in the distribution of Presidential Baraka, provinces are not treated equally?…….. I know my loyalty to the President is unimpeachable, as a member of Bondo….Why is it that His Excellency the President is not advised by the President’s office to visit Nyanza Province?

Is it because of bad roads? No. It cannot be due to lack of good roads because Nairobi/Kisumu road is tarmacked…Is it because of the Provincial Commissioner, Nyanza Province? No. Isaiah Cheluget is attractive…we have nicknamed him “The Provincial Commissioner for Development”.

Then there are those who had a problem with him.

 I meet Mr Tom Ogeto, who then was personnel at the Provincial Administration office in Kisumu. The old man tells me that the PC was one of the bluntest men he has ever met.  He recalls how ridiculous this one particular meeting would turn out:

 I.K Cheluget had organized a meeting in his office in Kisumu to discuss power distribution in the area. Among those invited was one Mr Isaac Okero Omolo the Minister for Power and Communication.

“He must have travelled overnight from Nairobi since the meeting was scheduled for a Tuesday morning at eight….” Ogeto narrates.  The Minister would get to Kisumu early enough to hang around the then one-street Kisumu town before heading for the meeting.

When he got to the PC’s office it was a few minutes past eight and he walked in but was stopped dead on his steps by Cheluget’s unnerving voice. “ Unafikiria hapa ni kwako Okero? (You think this is your house Okero?).  

“He locked the Minister out of the meeting yet what was being discussed would eventually go through the same minister!” An astonished Ogeto remarks.

Such were the things that cultivated respect, fear, admiration all churned up, for a man whose forehead had outrightly eaten into his hairline. You’d think he was bald. But no. That was his hair retreating from the face of a chap whose eyes were piercingly interrogative.  He, simply put, had quite a forehead to wash in the morning.

Cheluget now lives in Kisumu. His life is calm and quiet. His daughter tells me that the old man genuinely fell in love with Kisumu when he was a PC and for some reason loves the high temperatures of the lakeside city.

Of course, the town has grown now. But perhaps residing in Kisumu gives him nostalgia, reminds him of his Jomo Kenyatta – Jaramogi years and the young budding Kenya of the sixties and seventies.

He has no doubt witnessed Kisumu grow from a small town with modest 25000 people to the biggest city in Kenya’s western hemisphere packed with millions of people.