{UAH} British journalist who died with Kenya’s most guarded secrets

British journalist who died with Kenya's most guarded secrets

By KAMAU NGOTHO

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IN SUMMARY

• As the government chief information officer in both colonial and independent Kenya, and later a Nairobi-based correspondent for several media outlets, Alastair Matheson stumbled on many of the country's best kept secrets.
• Most of the stories Matheson shared were picks from States of Emergency: Reporting Africa for Half a Century, his limited-circulation memoir, which is out of print.
• My first meeting with Matheson came in June 2002, which was just a few months to the exit of President Daniel arap Moi from power.

I reported to work at Nation Centre early one morning to find a "Please see me" note left on my desk by my boss, Managing Editor Joseph Odindo.

For those who attended high school in my day, a "see me" message from the headteacher wasn't often a pleasant affair. It likely ended with a few strokes of the cane or a suspension from school.

Until you discover the amiable personality in Mr Odindo, he cuts the image of an intimidating boss, much so given his big frame and tendency to scream when he blows a fuse. A trained schoolteacher to boot, he was mentored at the Starehe Boys' Centre by the dreaded police reservist Patrick Shaw.

Had he returned to teach at his old school, he automatically would have been appointed the discipline master.

PENDING ISSUES

Before I went to see him I made a quick run through my diary to see whether there were pending issues to be accounted for. Finding none, I walked to his desk to hear what he had to say.

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