Kenya’s former Vice President, Professor George Saitoti, was known for his peculiar habit of bringing along several cats and dogs during his foreign state trips.
The late Saitoti picked up the strange habit, that often caused a stir at various airports as his pets were off-loaded, after a poisoning incident back in February 1990.
Shortly after the assassination of Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko, Saitoti was then allegedly served poisoned food at a restaurant he frequented in Muthaiga.
His close shave with death was kept under wraps but one day, former president Daniel Arap Moi turned up for a roadside function outside GPO on Kenyatta Avenue, and in the middle of lambasting his critics, he hinted at what had happened to Saitoti.
“The same people who killed Ouko are the same ones who poisoned my Vice President Saitoti!� Moi declared.
Close aides to the late Saitoti disclosed to The Standard that the former VP was never the same again as he slipped into chronic paranoia, opting to never trust anyone with his meals ever again.
It was at this point that Saitoti started using servants to taste his meals before turning to cats & dogs after a close friend enlightened him on the existence of servants who would be willing to die for the right amount of money.
Once he took up his peculiar routine of having his pets taste his food, the animals never left his side regardless of whether he was attending a meeting in Nairobi, Mombasa or London.
A former senior official in the Moi administration revealed that Saitoti’s pets were cleared to travel with his security team during his foreign trips.
On his part, the late VP simply stated that he couldn’t take a chance with his life ever again.
Prof. Saitoti died in a tragic plane crash on June 10, 2012, alongside his longtime bodyguard, Inspector Joseph Tonkei, and his Assistant Minister, Orwa Ojode.
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