How Aga Khan fought attempts by Kenyatta men to control the ‘Nation’

It was an afternoon: February 16, 1976: Jomo Kenyatta had been invited to open the new Serena Hotel, Nairobi by his Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. The two had known each other for years, and when Kenyatta took over as Prime Minister, the Aga Khan donated a house to him.

Kenyatta, his ever-present fly whisk dangling from his wrist turned to The Aga Khan and pointed to his nephew Ngengi: "This is my nephew, Mr Muigai. He has just returned from America, and I was wondering if it was possible to find a position for him in your newspapers."

According to Nation Media Group historian, the late Gerry Loughran, “The Aga Khan appeared taken aback but replied politely that he was sure that would be possible, but he would have to make enquiries.”

Had the Aga Khan given in to the politicians, suggested Loughran, it would have marked the end of independent media in Kenya.

Beside Kenyatta and Ngengi was Udi Gecaga, the Princeton-educated son-in-law who oversaw Tiny Rowland’s Lonrho conglomerate in Kenya that owned the East African Standard.

How the Aga Khan came to establish East Africa’s largest media house is also the story of a man who saw an opportunity to give a newly independent nation its voice.

He did so by first acquiring the Kiswahili weekly Taifa Leo, which was then owned by Althea Tebbutt and Charles Hayes, a former District Commissioner in colonial Kenya. Hayes was a stringer for the English newspaper, Daily Mail, and also reported for BBC. By launching Taifa, he had hoped to freely allow Africans to express themselves as the country headed towards independence.

“But in the unruly conditions of 1958, the project of publishing in a vernacular language was a leap in the darkness. Nevertheless, Taifa was attracting leaders,”Hayes commented later.

Read: World leaders mourn His Highness the Aga Khan IV

In 1958, Hayes met a young Fleet Street editor, Michael Curtis, who had left England’s News Chronicle to become the young Aga Khan’s personal aide. The meeting would forever change the media landscape in eastern Africa – thanks to the Aga Khan.

“In his quiet way, this Fleet Street legend enquired about Taifa’s editorial policy and the stories it was carrying. Somehow the conversation took us into Nairobi’s Equator Club. At 3am that morning, with the band still playing softly, Curtis said he would like to join the Taifa venture…He also laid the dictum that we must write ourselves out of jobs and from the beginning we must train African editors and managers to take over in 10 years time. At the time none of us realised that we were being approached, through Curtis, by the Aga Khan,” wrote Hayes’ wife, Margaret Hayes, in the book “I am only the Editor.”

Aga Khan aligned his vision with Taifa’s mission and decided to acquire the title. Thus, in 1959, shortly after he became the Ismaili spiritual leader, the Aga Khan IV purchased this tiny Kiswahili weekly known as Taifa for £10,000.

When the East African Newspapers (Nation Series) Limited was born on April 1, 1959; Curtis was named the Managing Editor while Mareka Gechaga was the first African director. Hayes was named the first Editor while Ms Althea Tebbut became the advertising director.

This was the paper that would later turn into the media giant, Nation Media Group plc, as more publications were introduced including the Daily Nation, Saturday and Sunday Nation,The EastAfrican and the Business Daily.

With some vision, Aga Khan decided to turn the weekly Taifa into Taifa Leo, a daily Kiswahili language newspaper. An English-language Sunday Nation was first published in March 1960, and by October that year, the flagship Daily Nation was born.

As Kenya became a republic, the Aga Khan decided to have the first African editor-in-chief with the appointment of Hilary Ngweno, a Harvard trained scientist whose interest was in journalism.

The Aga Khan supported the loss-making enterprise for years, and it was only in 1968 that the company made a profit. Within a year, the Daily Nation had surpassed its long-established rival, the colonial-era East African Standard, cementing its place as the region’s most influential newspaper.

By 1973, the business transitioned into a public company, its shareholder base expanding to more than 8,000 investors, predominantly Kenyans. This shift saw the Aga Khan’s stake reduced to 60 percent, later further diluted to 44.73 percent.

In 2003, in a move emblematic of his commitment to global development, the Aga Khan transferred his personal holdings—23.9 million shares—to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (Akfed), an institution dedicated to fostering economic progress in disadvantaged regions.

The Aga Khan had a personal connection to the country and, during the World War II, his father, Prince Aly Khan, stationed in Cairo with the Free French forces, sent Prince Karim and his brother to safety in Kenya. They resided in their grandfather’s Nairobi house.

Read: His Highness the Aga Khan IV dies at 88

For years, the Aga Khan was always fascinated by newspapers. When he returned to Harvard, he is said to have told Curtis, who wanted to cease being a PA and get back to journalism.

“Then, to my complete surprise, he said: ‘How about starting a newspaper in Kenya?’”

“For Curtis, the proposal was electrifying—the rare opportunity to build a newspaper from the ground up,” wrote Loughran.

“I made it very clear that I could not be involved if he wanted a newspaper solely for the Ismaili community. He immediately replied, ‘No, no, that’s the last thing I want. I want a completely independent paper.’ And he meant it. In fact, some within the Ismaili community were displeased that the paper didn’t employ any of their own,” Loughran wrote in the book, Birth of a Nation.

It was in this “clear mandate for editorial independence” spelt by Aga Khan early in its foundation that East Africa’s most powerful media institution—the Nation Group was born.

By the time Kenyatta was seeking to have his nephew to control the newspaper in 1976, the Aga Khan had already given the editors a free hand. According to Loughran, “The “position” [Kenyatta] had vaguely referenced for Muigai was, in reality, nothing short of the chairmanship of Nation Printers and Publishers Ltd (NPP).

"Gecaga and Muigai were not satisfied with the meeting. The Aga Khan was scheduled to fly out the next day, but they wanted an immediate announcement,” Albert Ekirapa, a Nation executive and former civil servant who had been earmarked to take over as NPP’s executive chairman was quoted in the Nation history book.

Once Muigai and Gechaga knew that the Aga Khan was flying out without making any appointment, they dashed to the airport and managed to secure a VIP lunch meeting with him. The Aga Khan, ever the measured statesman, declined to make an impulsive decision.

Announcing a new chairman without due process, he pointed out, would be a destabilising move—one bound to create uproar among shareholders. Instead, he proposed a more diplomatic course of action: A formal meeting in April, where Muigai and Gecaga could present their case before the NPP directors.

Ekirapa later observed: "The Aga Khan had promised the President he would do something, but the precise nature of that promise was open to interpretation. Management’s view of Muigai as chairman was very negative, and it was my job to convey that to the Aga Khan."

According to Loughran, the Nation Group’s leadership had reason for alarm. Muigai and Gecaga exhibited a corporate raider mentality, their ambitions aligning uncomfortably with the political dynamics at play in Kenyatta’s inner circle. The Gatundu clique, as it was known, wielded an influence that often outstripped even the Cabinet.

Gecaga was already chairman of Lonrho East Africa Ltd, which owned the Nation’s chief competitor, the Standard. His father, Mareka Gecaga, had served as a longtime director of NPP.

It was argued that to hand over the Nation to them would be to cede control of Kenya’s print media to a single political faction, an outcome that the Aga Khan and his directors were unwilling to entertain.

While the Aga Khan continued his travels—observing, in Pakistan, the perils of a state-controlled press—the Nation’s leadership canvassed opinions on the Muigai proposal.

On his return to Europe, the Aga Khan summoned NPP directors and senior managers to a series of high-stakes meetings in St Moritz, Switzerland.

Among those consulted was Editor-in-Chief George Githii who told the meeting that “ there was no way this merchant group should be allowed anywhere near the Nation."

But as the meeting continued, Gecaga and Muigai arrived in St Moritz, adding drama to the meeting.

"They looked surprised to see us there," Ekirapa recalled in the Nation book. Then, it is said that Aga Khan turned to Muigai: "These are my directors. They are the people who make decisions on my behalf. 

Perhaps you would like to tell them what role you believe you can play in our group."

It was Gecaga who spoke, arguing that the Nation needed an "injection of business acumen, new blood, and commercial expertise."

Then Aga Khan asked Gecaga: "How would you feel if I nominated someone to the board of Lonrho?"

"That’s different. I’m not here as a representative of Lonrho. I’m here in my personal capacity."

"I don’t see where the divide is. Could I also nominate someone for you?" the Aga Khan said.

Then he made the final remark: "We will discuss with the board what contribution you might make to our group and we will let the President know."

It is said that had Muigai insisted on taking the helm at Nation Printers and Publishers (NPP), the Aga Khan and his directors had considered an extraordinary measure—selling the entire group. It was feared that under Muigai’s leadership, the Nation risked being transformed from a beacon of independent journalism into an instrument of political factionalism.

The Aga Khan wrote a letter to President Kenyatta, stating that he had undergone “serious second thoughts” since their meeting at the Serena.

"There is no doubt," he wrote, "that if Muigai were to become chairman of NPP, the press in Kenya would, to all intents and purposes, be under the control of one group of individuals, leading to a monolithic outlook. Whatever the actual facts may be, public opinion in Kenya would likely perceive the new chairmanship as a state-sponsored attempt to establish a press monopoly."

"If circulation were to decline because the public considered the paper to have become part of a state apparatus, the 2,000-plus Kenyan shareholders in NPP would suffer."

The Aga Khan further noted the dangerous entanglement of the Gecaga family in Kenya’s media landscape—one brother-in-law running the Nation, the other controlling the Standard.

"I consider this situation to be potentially very unhealthy," the letter warned. "If it becomes known that our new chairman is closely related to the controlling interests of the Standard, I expect a number of serious questions to be raised at our General Assembly, and this will inevitably impact our readership."

"I truly believe that it is in Kenya’s best interests that while NPP remains loyal to you and your government, it also remains independent of Lonrho. I would sincerely request you to reconsider the suggestion that Mr Muigai become chairman of NPP."

The Aga Khan then flew to Nairobi and travelled to Nakuru’s State House, where he met with Kenyatta. He told him that it would not be in the country’s interest for Kenyatta’s family to control both of the country’s leading newspapers. He offered to sell the Nation to the government—rather than appoint Muigai as chairman.

"No, we do not want to buy the Nation," Kenyatta said. "As for Muigai, I leave it to your discretion."

It was a battle that saw Kenyan media’s independence secured, and a legacy left behind for journalism.

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