Inside the highly guarded secrets of the late Vice President George Saitoti attempted assassination through food poisoning at an Indian Restaurant in Muthaiga.
On February 1990, just a day before the Member of Parliament for Kisumu and Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation went missing only to be found dead at Koru Hills which is just a few meters from his Kisumu residence, something unprecedented happened to the then Vice President George Saitoti.
Despite the then Vice President always keeping watch on his back, reducing his social activities, having only three trusted guards and taking meals and drinks either from his Kitengela home, Indian Restaurant at Muthaiga or at one of his confidant, Jimi Wanjigi, private restaurant at Kwacha House, assassins finally caught up with him and attempted to take his life at the Indian Restaurant in Muthaiga. His food was laced with a very chemical commonly referred to as cyanide. Since then it has not however been established whether it is the food that was laced with the toxin or it is the plate that he was served on that had been sprayed with the gas form of the posion.
Following the attempted assassination incident at the Indian Restaurant, his Personal Assistant Michael ole Tanju, Inspector Joshua Tonkei and his body guard popularly known as Sultan rushed him to Nairobi Hospital for treatment.
Unofficial reports from his confidants who saw him at the hospital cited that the cyanide poison had taken a toll on him and his skin was pealing.
After stabilizing, his guards, close family members, a private nurse and doctor secretly wheeled him from Nairobi Hospital to his Kitengela residence where one of the rooms had been converted to a ward. An ambulance was always on standby at the residence in case of an emergency. If need, as per his doctor recommendation, he would be ferried covertly under heavy security to Nairobi Hospital for blood transfusion in order to get rid of the poison from his body.
Details of the Vice President attempted assassination were never made public. There were however bar talks regarding the wellbeing of George Saitoti and his absence from the public for long.
George Saitoti Attempted Assassination Details made Public
When he recovered, George Saitoti denied attempted assassination allegation until one day, the then President, the Late Daniel Moi, told members of the public that the people who killed Robert Ouko are the same people that had poisoned his Vice President.
George Saitoti later confirmed to the public that some people had attempted to assassinate him. Speaking on the assassination of Robert Ouko, the Vice President said that he didn’t know the murderers since he was unconscious at the time of Robert Ouko assassination.