By MBURU MWANGI 

Police have blocked a meeting between Vice-President Moody Awori and a woman who claimed to have the original certificate of Mzee Kenyatta's marriage to an English woman.

Security officers stepped in at the last minute to stop the woman from seeing Mr Awori, whom she was to give what she claimed was the original marriage certificate of the 1942 union between Edna Clarke and the man who would become Kenya's first president.

As Kenyans mark the 40th anniversary of Kenyatta Day, the Nation can reveal the secret drama played out last week between a Nairobi hotel, the Vice-President's office and the National Security Intelligence Service.

Ms Manju Dhiri was questioned by security officers on Wednesday after Mr Awori cancelled a scheduled ceremony to receive the certificate from her. 

The presentation was to take place the next day, but after undergoing a security check, she flew out on Saturday without handing over the document.

It was the dramatic climax to secret talks involving the National Museums of Kenya and a freelance journalist, in which the woman reportedly requested Kenyan citizenship in exchange for her "historical" document.

Edna, who died in 1995 at the age of 86, was Kenyatta's second wife. Mzee was an agricultural labourer in England, earning £4 a week when the two met three years before he returned home to join the nationalist struggle.

Their wedding – recorded in the certificate Dhiri offered the government – took place on May 11, 1942, at the Chanctonbury registry office at Storrington in Sussex.

Kenyatta left Edna in England when he returned to Kenya in 1946 and married Mama Ngina.

Ms Dhiri first offered the document to the National Museums of Kenya, saying all she wanted in return was a simple recognition as a donor. 

It is claimed, however, that she later hinted she would prefer Kenyan citizenship in exchange. Kenyan law does not allow dual citizenship and Ms Dhiri is a national of the United Kingdom. 

Questions were raised by Intelligence about the certificate's authenticity, forcing Mr Awori to cancel a meeting with Ms Dhiri .

The National Archives, which is part of Mr Awori's Home Affairs docket, was interested in the certificate as part of Kenya's historical records .

There was concern that receiving the certificate at a public ceremony might strain the government's relations with the Kenyatta family.

Ms Dhiri had written several letters to the National Museums Curator, Mr Joseph Cheruiyot, since the beginning of the year.

"She would copy these letters to many officials, including the minister in charge and even the President," said Mr Cheruiyot. 

Not once, however, did Ms Dhiri set any conditions for handing over the document, until she visited Kenya last month and met officials close to the VP. 

"All she said was that she would like a simple recognition as the donor," said Mr Cheruiyot.

An aide to the VP said the issue of dual citizenship only came up when plans for the presentation were nearing completion.

The Museums said they had previously ignored Ms Dhiri's letters until last month when she showed up in Nairobi. Asked for the certificate, she would only produce a copy of it – and not the original – to officials she was dealing with.

"She never allowed us to have the original and I only saw what was allegedly a certified copy of the original," said an official of he Vice-President's office. 

Mr Cheruiyot said the Museums had earlier considered the offer because it was free, but later referred her to the Kenya National Archives.

But instead of contacting the archives, Ms Dhiri went to the Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs, which is in charge of museums, where she tried unsuccessfully to get audience with Mr Awori.

Undeterred, Ms Dhiri went to the archives, where she met the director, who again referred her to the ministry.

"She passed by here yesterday and I referred her to the ministry," said Mr Cheruiyot on Friday.

Before flying out to Kenya, Ms Dhiri was in touch with a journalist working with a Nairobi-based news agency, who introduced her to Mr Awori's personal assistant, Mr Ken Mayore. Mr Mayore was to ostensibly secure her an appointment with the VP.

"If you want to know everything about the VP's involvement talk to his personal assistant," said another source at the Museums. Mr Mayore declined to talk to the press.

Ms Dhiri, who was staying at the Hilton Hotel, refused to return calls from the Nation.

Edna and Kenyatta had one child, Peter Magana, who worked for many years as a BBC producer and was a frequent visitor to Kenya.

It was after his return to the country that Kenyatta married Mama Ngina. His first wife, Wahu, mother of Margaret Kenyatta Peter Muigai, lives in Nairobi's Dagoretti area.

Edna had been working as a governess at an English couple's home when she heard of Kenyatta, who was described as a "very interesting Abyssinian". Abysinnia was the colonial name for present day Ethiopia.

Not even the fact that Kenyatta was already married to another woman back home – Mama Wahu – affected his relationship with Edna. 

She would later tell interviewers she never expected to return to Kenya with him.

Apart from working as a labourer, Kenyatta made money giving lectures to British troops during the war.

Five years after returning home, Kenyatta was detained by the colonial government for his nationalist agitation, and on his release, became Kenya's first President at independence in 1963.

Kenyatta Day is dedicated to the night Mzee and seven other nationalists, including Achieng' Oneko, Kung'u Karumba, Paul Ngei and Bildad Kaggia, were led off to detention. 

Edna visited Kenya as a special state guest during the Uhuru (independence) celebrations. Among the people who received her at the airport was Mama Ngina.

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