Kenya's founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, kept an Ethiopian flag in his room while he was
studying at Quaker College, London in 1931.
Kenyatta who had very few friends in his lifetime was a good friend of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile
Selassie.
Their friendship is said to have started long before the two become Head of States in their
respective countries. Jomo Kenyatta is said and known to have kept a green, yellow, and red
Ethiopian flag in his room at 75 Castle Road a year after Haile Selassie was crowned Emperor.
Their friendship continued even after they became Head of States. Kenyatta, who loathed flying,
is said to have made only one foreign trip in the 14 years he was in power. The trip was to
Ethiopia to visit Haile Selassie in 1969. During the visit, the founding father was honoured with
a military drill where his name Jomo was spelt in the sky using fighter jets. He was also gifted
with a white poodle.
However, Lee Njiru who worked at State House as an information officer, revealed that Kenyatta
wasn't fond of the dog in the beginning but came to like it to the extent of buying it a Mercedes
Benz 280S.
Kenyatta, who was not very fond of pets, but because of his friendship with the Emperor,
decided to by the dog a Mercedes 280S. Whenever he went to Mombasa it used to sit back-left
and it had its own driver. Their friendship is also said to be why Kenyatta named one of the
three avenues in Nairobi after Haile Selassie.
Source: Tsega Tekle Haimanot ~ FB post ~ 6 September 2020
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