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Elder Lister
Senior Superintendent of Police Alex Pearson was a professional police officer who was dedicated to his work as Kenyatta's chief personal bodyguard.
He could always be seen standing tall next to Kenyatta and looking smart in his Kenya police uniform Pearson first worked as an instructor at Kiganjo Police Training College in the 50s. In 1963, he was posted to Nairobi as chief bodyguard to prime minister Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, with his office at Vigilance House.
He was so much trusted that when Mama Ngina travelled to the US in 1972 to attend the graduation of one her daughters, Kenyatta asked him to accompany her and protect her together with other family members who had travelled for the graduation. In his bid to maintain tight security, Pearson ran the trip so openly and completely that the Kenyan Embassy in the US sent a Telegram to Kenyatta asking him to talk to Pearson to stay in the background because it was embarrassing to have a white police officer guarding the first family.
Kenyatta immediately sent a blunt Telegram telling the embassy that Pearson was in charge of the trip and they should not interfere with his work, no matter his colour. Pearson retired in 1975 , at the age of 46, and became director Kenya Automobile Association. He died in 1984 at the age of 55 due to cancer and was buried at Langata cemetery. When Pearson retired in 1975, Kenyatta replaced him with Wanyoike Thungu, who was once described as the "symbol of impunity." Both Pearson (in police uniform) and Wanyoike (the burly man in a suit walking behind Kenyatta) can be seen in the images.
Wanyoike was not a police officer but a former KANU youth winger, a very ruthless one. However, when he replaced Pearson, Kenyatta appointed him to the rank of Inspector of Police.
Wanyoike was a goon who, in 1967, raided Bildad Kaggia's home with a gang of thugs and gave Kaggia and his wife a thorough beating for defying Mzee and associating with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. Kaggia and his wife, who suffered a fractured skull, were admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital.
Wanyoike was also a murderer who was mentioned in the parliamentary committee report as one of the government agents who interrogated and tortured JM Kariuki at Hilton Hotel. Before that, he had been implicated in the oathing and the ethnic killing that followed the assassination of Mboya. He abused his proximity to power to grab people's property in Thika while hiding behind Kenyatta's name , and was a very mannerless person who once spanked the wife of a senior government official
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