This man, Charles the ‘Jaguar’

Dar es Salaam. Kenyan MP Charles Njagua, aka Jaguar, is the man of the moment, probably for all the wrong reasons, and for that he is spending the weekend in police cells.

This was after he was arrested on Wednesday by the Kenyan authorities following incitement remarks against foreign investors. Police, however, is seeking to detain him for 14 more days, and the court is set to rule on Wednesday whether to grant them the request or not.

Jaguar, as he is popularly known by his fan base, is a graduate of Bachelor of Arts in Peace Studies and Conflict Management with “second class honour” from Mt Kenya University.

According to the information on the lawmaker’s education background posted by the Kenyan Parliament’s website, Jaguar, as a musician-turned-politician is popularly known, enrolled for the course in 2015 and graduated in 2018.

The fact that a peace and conflict management scholar can threaten to ‘beat up and deport’ foreign nationals from China, Tanzania, Uganda, and Pakistan who engage in various trades in downtown Nairobi appears to have shocked many, not least his own compatriots.

A Kenyan blogger Abraham Mutai has described him as “a mistake we are trying to rectify.” In a video that went viral he said: “Foreigners have taken over the automobile business in Kenya.”

Oblivious of the dangers his xenophobic remarks could bring about, he continued: “There are hundreds of foreigners doing the hawking business here ... we shall not accept to be enslaved by foreigners in our own country.”

But who is this man Jaguar?

Reports show that the urban-pop musician was born in a family of three siblings. He grew up in the suburbs of Nairobi where he attended school.

At the age of 11 Jaguar lost his mother who by then was the only guardian. He was forced to enrol in informal employment doing several odd jobs to earn a living. Through struggles working as a hawker in Nairobi’s Public Service Vehicles, and support from friends, Jaguar managed to get Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 2001 from Senior Chief Koinange Secondary School, as shown in the lawmaker’s information posted on the Kenya Parliament’s website.

Jaguar first made forays as a recording artist in 2004 where he recorded and released his first Single ‘Utaweza Kweli’ under the Mandugu Digitali record label.

He later joined East Africa’s music powerhouse, Ogopa Deejays in 2005 where he recorded and released several singles among them his most successful hit single ‘Kigeugeu’ where he takes issue with selfish politicians. In 2013 Jaguar began recording with Main Switch Studios founded by one of his long-serving record producers, Philip Makanda formerly from Ogopa Deejays.

This transition didn’t come short of any releases and he has been a part of the stable to date.

He has since recorded several hit singles including ‘Kipepeo’, ‘Kioo’ and ‘One centimetre’, a collaboration featuring popular Nigerian artiste, Iyanya.

He also featured popular South African duo, Mafikizolo in his single titled ‘Going Nowhere.’

In 2017, Jaguar was charged with killing two people, a boda-boda rider, Mugo Mwangi, and his passenger, Joseph Maingi. The court found him guilty and fined him Ksh20,000 or in default six months imprisonment.

On August 9, 2017, Jaguar was elected to serve the constituency of Starehe in Nairobi on a Jubilee Party ticket after defeating Steve Mbogo, Boniface Mwangi and Mwaniki Kwenya.

He had previously defeated incumbent MP of Starehe Maina Kamanda in a hotly contested nomination race for the Jubilee Party ticket in April 2017.

Jaguar campaigned on the platform of working with donors and other organisations to support various development projects for the constituents of Starehe, among other pledges.

Apart from being a musician cum politician, Jaguar is also described as both entrepreneur and philanthropist and has over the years established his own enterprises that have now become very lucrative businesses. Besides his music business, Jaguar owns a fleet of personal luxury cars and is known to have investments in real estate as well as the transport and aviation Industry.

Arrest over xenophobic rants

On Wednesday, around 12.45pm as he walked out of Parliament Buildings to his constituency office at Continental House, Jaguar was arrested by police officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, who arrived at around 10 am in unmarked navy blue and green Subaru cars, Daily Nation reported.

“They laid siege on Harambee Avenue and Parliament Road, just outside the two exits from Parliament,” the paper described the scene.

“As the legislator walked out, nearly 10 officers in plain clothes rounded him up and asked him to accompany them to the Nairobi Police Regional headquarters. One pulled out handcuffs but the MP successfully pleaded against being bound.” He was then bundled into a navy-blue Subaru and driven away, the officers not stating why they made the move.

Greatly misinterpreted

The arrest came one day after the Tanzanian government sought clarity from the Kenyan mission in Tanzania. The envoy assured its host government that Kenyan authorities would summon the lawmaker to explain what he actually meant by the statement.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Jaguar defended himself by saying that his statement was “greatly misinterpreted.” He wrote: “I mean peace for the country and businesses should go on uninterrupted and all foreigners are welcome to our country.”

In a previous tweet, Jaguar said that his statement for the Chinese whom he claimed to have “invaded” the Kenyan markets which he said make businesses almost unbearable bearing for locals.

“I am not against any regional unions that are meant to promote both local and regional trade,” he added.

But according to the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Jaguar will still face charges of incitement to violence over his xenophobic utterances. By the time of writing, Jaguar was still arraigned.

Police on Thursday asked the court to detain Jaguar for more 14 days, amid investigations over his xenophobic tirade. As some netizens have said, Jaguar was trying to be a populist but ended up creating a diplomatic farce.