In the quest for self-rule, Kenya witnessed the emergence of courageous leaders who were part of the spirited fight to liberate us from our colonial masters. One of these leaders was Paul Ngei.
He was among the famous Kapenguria Six who were held at the Lokitaung Prison. Ngei was imprisoned alongside Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
In this article, WoK takes a look at one of Ngei’s background and his appetite for women. The late politician is said to have been what people nowadays refer to as “fisi”.
Background & Education
Paul Joseph Ngei was born at Kiima Kimwe near Machakos township on October 8,1923. He died on August 15, 2004.
He was the grandson of paramount chief Masaku after whom the town and the district were named. The family moved from Kiima Kimwe to a new settlement at Kangundo Division in a small village called Mbilini in 1929. This was a mountainous area with good rainfall for agriculture. His father had been converted to Christianity by the Africa Inland Mission.
Ngei attended Kangundo DEB Primary school from 1932 to 1935. He then attended intermediate school at Kwa Mating’i in Machakos town from 1936, and proceeded to join Alliance High School.
After high school, he joined the army in the King’s African Rifles (KAR) where he spent four years. He later enrolled at Makerere University in Uganda as a journalism student from 1948 to 1950.
Activism
Ngei was among the Kapenguria Six. He was imprisoned for nine years alongside Kenyatta, Fred Kubai, Bildad Kaggia, Achieng Oneko and Kung’u Karumba. The were released in 1961.
During this time, he earned Kenyatta’s undying friendship.
Political career
Ngei was the MP for Kangundo Constituency from 1969 to 1990. He served throughout the Jomo Kenyatta government from 1964 to 1978 as a cabinet minister and in the post-Kenyatta government led by President Daniel arap Moi from 1978 to 1990 where he held several ministerial positions.
In 1990 declared bankrupt by the courts and consequently had to give up his parliamentary seat.
Affairs with women
According to Kenyatta, the eponymous bio of 1973 by Jeremy Murray-Brown, Ngei wrote love letters filled with catchy Swahili phrases to Mzee Kenyatta’s daughter Margaret. At one time, Mzee Kenyatta caught one of the letters and confronted Ngei.
“Hi, what are you going to say now. I’ve caught you, ehee! You’ve kept mum for a long time and you are a son-in-law… and never said a thing, hey?” Murray-Brown quotes Kenyatta as saying.
According to a report by the Standard, Ngei was also mentioned in the 1978 murder of Captain Judy Angaine whom he was dating at the time. She was the daughter of late former Cabinet Minister Jackson Angaine.
On the night of March 29, a day before she was found dead, Judy had visited her father at his office in Ardhi House. She had come from Molo after running a few errands.
She met Ngei who was then Minister for Cooperatives and had an office in the same building. He offered to take her home.
According to the publication, Maj Kisila, Judy’s boyfriend came home and found her taking whiskey in the company of Ngei. They later suggested they go out drinking but Kisila declined to go.
Ngei and Judy started drinking at Langata Club and then went to Woodley Club.
“It was on the way back that Ngei, while still driving, touched Judy on the breast and told her he loved her,” Angaine quoted Maj Kisila as saying during an inquest into Judy’s death.
She reportedly denied Ngei’s advances resulting in a struggle that caused the car to roll three times. They survived the accident and were rescued by a white woman. She offered Judy a dress since her’s was torn.
While a student at Makarere University, Ngei was expelled for stabbing a fellow student over a woman during a college dance.
In an article titled Paul Ngei, the rogue minister who respected no law, the late legislator comes out as a man whose appetite for women did not mellow down even with old age. As soon as an amputated Ngei was wheeled in for an interview with Daily Nation Kamau Ngotho, a friend of the journalist told Ngei:
“Paul, you amaze me, you mean you still have an appetite for beautiful ladies even in your condition!” Ngei replied: “But Charles, one doesn’t need three legs to do it!”
That was the man Ngei was.
