Death of Bishop Muge and New Library at Kabare: Kings Family CMS Link Letter 15, Dec 1990
by Graham Kings
Date added: 17/01/2026
On Saturday a Minister of State in Kenya
threatened a Minister of God in public,
if he or his colleague entered his kingdom:
'They would see fire
and may not leave alive.'
On Tuesday, the prophet,
impatient, impulsive,
pugnacious, courageous,
insisted on seeking the kingdom of God
and on his right to preach in Busia.
Triumphal entry and service over,
on returning, he returned Home.
The unmarked lorry, released from a police check,
headlights blazing - mid-afternoon -
cut in, cut up, cut off Bishop Muge.
The Minister of State resigned,
but boasted of his prophecy;
the driver went to prison,
seven years for dangerous driving;
the people talked of murder,
the Party's over.
'Apres Moi le deluge.'
The Rt Revd Alexander Muge, Anglican Bishop of Eldoret, died in a head-on collision with a lorry on 14 August 1990, having been threatened with death by a Cabinet minister the previous Saturday. I wrote the first draft of this poem on the back of an envelope a few days afterwards.
There were full obituaries in The Times (written by a former colleague at Kabare, Paddy Benson) and in The Independent. On the 17 August the Kenyan House of Bishops issued a statement calling for a Public Inquiry and stating, ‘Having due regard to the grave circumstances preceding his death, it would be imprudent to presume that our late Brother died in an accident.’ Instead of a full Public Inquiry only an Inquest has been granted – this itself is in doubt now that the driver has only been convicted of dangerous driving. Do pray for justice and also for the election of Bishop Muge’s successor.
On the 12 September Bishop David Gitari preached in Chelmsford Cathedral to launch the Chelmsford appeal for constructing a new, two-storey library at St Andrew’s Institute. Bishop John Waine presided at Holy Communion, using the new Kenyan Liturgy and one of our students, Andrew Mutisya, read the lesson and gave a short talk about the library.
This is one of the fruits of the partnership in mission between the two dioceses: other aspects of this link have been the visits to Kabare of a vicar from Chelmsford, which coincided with the inauguration of the new Diocese of Kirinyaga, a PCC member from Harold Wood in Essex, and a physics teacher who spent a term helping at a local secondary school. From here to Chelmsford we have sent Andrew Mutisya, who had a two-month placement in the parish of All Saints, Springfield (one of our link parishes), before studying for a term at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. In the new year, one of our Deaconesses will be working for a while in the parish of Grays.
The new library building will have room for expansion over the next 20 or 30 years. This expansion space will be used as a College Chapel till it is needed. There will also be room for the diocesan archive centre, to which students are adding each year by their research projects: they interview on cassette tape older people who remember the first days of the Church in this area. Richard Fielden, an award-winning architect who designed the new community building at Iona, has offered his services free, after visiting Kabare.
A retired Professor of Librarianship from Washington DC, Robert Jordan, spent three weeks here last month as a consultant on interior design and computerizing the new library. He plans to return for two months next summer to train our librarian on the job while his wife, Kathy, who is training to be a priest, has a student placement at Kabare. Last term we had a placement student from a St John’s College Nottingham and next term we welcome one from Ridley Hall, Cambridge. These student exchanges are proving to be very stimulating and beneficial to all concerned.
A few other items of news:
- Miriam has settled very well at Turi boarding school in western Kenya.
- My three week bible study notes on the theme of Mission will be published in the May-August 1991 Guidelines booklet: available from the Bible Reading Fellowship, 25 Buckingham Palace Rd, London SW1W 0PP.
