The family of a former colonial chief whose kin vacated his parliamentary seat for former President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta to ascend to the presidency has complained of being neglected by the state despite the sacrifice.
Senior Chief Njiiri wa Karanja family from Kinyona in Murang’a County says they have never benefited from the sacrifice despite playing a key role in giving birth to the Kenyatta regime and the Kikuyu community to ascend to power…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
Chief Njiiri, very powerful during the colonial era and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta were longtime friends and had a very strong bond, believed to be from their fathers Ngengi wa Mungai and Karanja wa Njiiri, who hailed from Ngenda village in Murang’a County before settling in Gatundu South, Kiambu County and Kigumo in Murang’a respectively.
He is said to have convinced his son, Kariuki Njiiri, a first time member of Parliament of Kigumo constituency to relinquish his seat for Mzee Kenyatta to allow him join the Legislative Assembly (Legco) in 1961.
According to Charles Karanja, 85, a son to Chief Njiiri, Mzee Kenyatta was a close friend to the family and visited them often.
He in fact, helped to educate Kariuki, when he was the Principal, Kenya Teachers College in Githunguri, before helping him further his studies in India, Cairo in Egypt and the Lincoln University in the United States.
After studies, Kariuki returned to Kenya in the mid-1950s and in 1958, took an interest in the Kigumo parliamentary seat, which he won.
“As a family, we were very happy when he won. We now had double power. We knew the area would be developed and that we would get big government jobs,” said Karanja.
However, the celebration would be short-lived, as the country’s politics was changing after the announcement that Mzee Kenyatta would be released from detention.Kenyatta and five others had been held captive in Kapenguria after being charged with managing Mau Mau, a radical movement that tried to push the British administration out of Kenya.
“The British administration made sure Kenyatta missed the 1961 elections, before they released him. However, since everybody knew that he would be released that year, the ground had been prepared.
All parliamentary aspirants campaigned with the promise that they will relinquish their seat for Mzee Kenyatta once he is released,” he adds.
However, Karanja says after he was released in August that year, none of those who had promised to vacate their seat for Mzee did so.
“Among those that were targeted were Tom Mboya of Nairobi and James Gichuru and Mbiyu Koinange of Kiambu. None was keen to leave their seats. In fact, some felt challenged if Kenyatta went to Legco,” he adds.
“Time was running out for Mzee to join Legco and the situation looked doomed for him, forcing Chief Njiiri to convince his son Kariuki to vacate his seat for Kenyatta,” he says.
“The negotiations were done first in our house in the presence of me, Kariuki the MP, my father and Mzee Kenyatta and a few of his handlers. That is how we handed power. Mzee Kenyatta said he would come officially for a ceremony after the dust settled, but that was that,” he adds.
Njiiri had to convince the colonial government that Kenyatta hailed from Murang’a, before Kariuki would be allowed to relinquish his seat for him.
Kenyatta then became the Kigumo MP and from June 1963 to December 1963, he was the first Prime Minister and then became the first President of independent Kenya.
He claimed had Kariuki not vacated his seat for Kenyatta, the meteoric rise of Kenyatta to the presidency would have been doomed.
Kariuki got back the seat in 1963 and served as an assistant minister in Kenyatta’s government until 1969 elections when he lost the seat.
He died in 1975 following a road accident at Juja, a year after his father’s death. Three years later Kenyatta followed him to the grave.
His relatives feel the friendship and the strong bond that existed between the families was lost after the death of the three.
Nahason Karanja, another son of Chief Njiiri, says the Kenyatta family and the Kikuyu community owes them a lot for helping bring the presidency to Central Kenya.He says despite the bold move by one of their own, the family has at no time been recognized during national events
After their infamous plot to destroy parliament was foiled, Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators received one of the most severe judicial sentences in English history: hanging, drawing and quartering. According to the Treason Act 1351 , this punishment involved…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
Author
Michelle SpearProfessor of Anatomy, University of Bristol
That you be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, where you shall be hanged by the neck and being alive cut down, your privy members shall be cut off and your bowels taken out and burned before you, your head severed from your body and your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the King’s pleasure.
This process aimed not only to inflict excruciating pain on the condemned, but to serve as a deterrent – demonstrating the fate of those who betrayed the Crown. While Fawkes reportedly jumped from the gallows – which meant he avoided the full extent of his punishment – his co-conspirators apparently weren’t so lucky.
By dissecting each stage of this medieval punishment from an anatomical perspective, we can understand the profound agony each of them endured.
Torture for confession
Before his public execution on January 31 1606, Fawkes was tortured to force a confession about his involvement in the “gunpowder plot”.
The Tower of London records confirm that King James I personally authorised “the gentler tortures first”. Accounts reveal that Fawkes was stretched on the rack – a device designed to slowly pull the limbs in opposite directions. This stretching inflicted severe trauma on the shoulders, elbows and hips, as well as the spine.
The forces exerted by the rack probably exceeded those required for joint or hip dislocation under normal conditions.
Substantive differences between Fawkes’ signatures on confessions between November 8 and shortly before his execution may indicate the amount of nerve and soft tissue damage sustained. It also illustrates how remarkable his final leap from the gallows was.
Stage 1: hanging (partial strangulation)
After surviving the torture of the rack, Fawkes and his gang faced the next stage of their punishment: hanging. But this form of hanging only partially strangled the condemned – preserving their consciousness and prolonging their suffering.
Partial strangulation exerts extreme pressure on several critical neck structures. The hyoid bone , a small u-shaped structure above the larynx, is prone to bruising or fracture under compression .
Simultaneously, pressure on the carotid arteries restricts blood flow to the brain, while compression of the jugular veins causes pooling of blood in the head – probably resulting in visible haemorrhages in the eyes and face.
Because the larynx and trachea (both essential for airflow) are partially obstructed, this makes breathing laboured. Strain on the cervical spine and surrounding muscles in the neck can lead to tearing, muscle spasms or dislocation of the vertebra – causing severe pain. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
Fawkes brought his agony to a premature end by leaping from the gallows. Accounts from the time tell us:
His body being weak with the torture and sickness, he was scarce able to go up the ladder – yet with much ado, by the help of the hangman, went high enough to break his neck by the fall.
This probably caused him to suffer a bilateral fracture of his second cervical vertebra, assisted by his own bodyweight – an injury known as the “hangman’s fracture” .
Stage 2: Drawing (disembowelment)
After enduring partial hanging, the victim would then be “drawn” – a process which involved disembowelling them while still alive. This act mainly targeted the organs of the abdominal cavity – including the intestines, liver and kidney, as well as major blood vessels such as the abdominal aorta.
The physiological response to disembowelment would have been immediate and severe. The abdominal cavity possesses a high concentration of pain receptors – particularly around the membranous lining of the abdomen . When punctured, these pain receptors would have sent intense pain signals to the brain, overwhelming the body’s capacity for pain management . Shock would soon follow due to the rapid drop in blood pressure caused by massive amounts of blood loss.
Stage 3: quartering (dismemberment)
Quartering was also supposed to be performed while the victim was still alive. Though no accounts exist detailing at what phase victims typically lost consciousness during execution, it’s highly unlikely many survived the shock of being drawn.
So, at this stage, publicity superseded punishment given the victim’s likely earlier demise. Limbs that were removed from criminals were preserved by boiling them with spices. These were then toured around the country to act as a deterrent for others.
Though accounts suggest Fawkes’s body parts were sent to “the four corners of the United Kingdom”, there is no specific record of what was sent where. However, his head was displayed in London .
Traitor’s punishment
The punishment of hanging, drawing and quartering was designed to be as anatomically devastating as it was psychologically terrifying. Each stage of the process exploited the vulnerabilities of the human body to create maximum pain and suffering, while also serving as a grim reminder of the consequences of treason.
This punishment also gives us an insight into how medieval justice systems used the body as a canvas for social and political messaging. Fawkes’s fate, though unimaginable today, exemplifies the extremes to which the state could, and would, go to maintain control, power and authority over its subjects.
The sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering was officially removed from English law as part of the Forfeiture Act of 1870 .
There are many unusual things happening across the world. Children are charming and lovely, yet others are really dangerous and have been involved in a variety of illegal activities in society.
Joshua Phillips stabbed his neighbor’s eight-year-old daughter and put the girl’s body under his bed at home. After eight days, his mother discovered the body.
Joshua Phillips was fourteen years old when he committed this act, according to reports, and he was sentenced to life in jail.
Take a look at how Joshua Phillips is now.
2. Eric Smith:
Eric Smith, according to sources, was condemned to life in jail many years ago. Eric Smith was just 13 years old when he hit a 4-year-old boy with a rock and killed him.
Following multiple conversations with Eric, he stated that he was bullied by several senior kids at his school and that he killed the youngster because he was irritated and upset. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
3. Lionel Tate:
Lionel Tate was one of the youngest people to get a life sentence.
According to sources, when he was 13 years old, Lionel Tate killed his neighbor’s six-year-old daughter.
Lionel Tate claimed he was boxing with the young girl.
4. Brian Lee Draper:
Brian Lee Draper was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for murdering a classmate, according to reports.
The murder was committed by Brian Lee Draper and his friend Torey Adamcik, who was sixteen years old at the time.
Parents should always endeavor to teach their children how to be good children, as well as pray for them.
A woman named Stella Namwanje was arrested in Uganda for allegedly committing an atrocious act against her neighbor’s baby. Reports indicate that she was caught on video defecating and urinating on the infant before feeding him the waste. This shocking behavior has drawn widespread condemnation and raised serious concerns about the child’s welfare…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>
The incident took place in the Binyonyi A area of the Nyendo-Mukungwe division. Local authorities acted swiftly after the disturbing footage circulated on social media, prompting community outrage. The police have since taken Namwanje into custody to investigate the circumstances surrounding her actions and ensure the safety of the child.
The case has sparked discussions about the need for stronger measures to protect vulnerable individuals, especially children, from abuse. It highlights the alarming reality of child torture and the psychological issues that may drive such behavior. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
As the investigation unfolds, the community is rallying to support the affected family and prevent similar incidents in the future. The legal proceedings against Namwanje will likely focus on the extent of her actions and the necessary repercussions for such a heinous crime.