Did you know that Kenyan Presidents don’t inherit the chairs of their predecessors? In a resent exercise by the County Government of Nakuru the department of Public Works shared this uncommon fact while exhibiting the chairs that have been used by Kenya’s Presidents since independence.
According to Maina Muchemi, the Director of Public works in Nakuru, the chairs keep on being changed with the entry of a new President due to their different body postures and the specifications that each President gives. The second reason is they have to be new.
Because of this the chair that Kenya’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta sat on is different from the one that was used his successor Daniel Moi. Different too is the chair that the third President Mwai Kibaki sat on as well as that is being currently used by Uhuru Kenyatta. So to date there are four chairs.
Muchemi explained that every region usually has its own chair which is usually flown to a venue whenever the President is expected to attend. All chairs have the government seal and because of this he said it was forbidden to sit on them or to take photos of them. So again going with the former provinces in which Kenya was divided into, we have eight chairs at a given time, which are literally the seats of power.
The chairs which are part of Kenya’s history, are usually made by the Prisons Department in the country. In fact looking at them one sees a close resemblance with the chairs that Parliamentarians use in the August House which are also made by the Prisons Department.
Kenya’s first two Presidents were known to have a unique identity about them. Jomo Kenyatta had a fly whisk while Daniel Moi always waged a small baton.
However Mwai Kibaki did not use any unique regalia during his Presidency, and so is Uhuru Kenyatta.
