Leonard Mbotela reveals how hotel altercation led to 'Jee Huu ni Ungwana' programme

Veteran journalist Leonard Mambo Mbotela has opened up on how he coined the name of his popular show ‘Je Huu Ni Ungwana’ about 56 years ago.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s JKLive show on Wednesday, Mbotela said that he came up with the famous slogan while in a popular eatery in Nairobi’s CBD.

Mbotela explained that in 1996 he was out on a lunch date with his colleagues when uncouth behaviour from one of his friends towards the waiters sparked a rebuke that bore the programme that has now aired for over five decades.

He noted that the late Charles Njonjo and other respected dignitaries among them the late Paul Ngei and Gikonyo Kiano were present at the joint.

“I started this programme way back in 1966. After finishing my continuity radio work at Voice of Kenya (VoK) then, now KBC, my colleague decided to go to a restaurant to have some lunch and some drinks. It was on a Saturday afternoon and we went to Pan African Hotel,” he stated.

“When we entered there, the table which was in front of us, the likes of Paul Njonjo, Paul Ngei, Gikonyo Kiano were there we entered. One of my colleagues instead of waiting patiently to be served by those waiters there, he started shouting, hello, nani yuko hapa…”

Mbotela added: “Before I asked him what he was doing, the late Charles Njonjo turned to us looking at me. I told my collegue hii tabia gani bwana, unaona wakubwa wanatuangalia? Just be patient you will be served. He was very sorry and I told him this is Pan African, not Karumaindo, Karumaindo you could shout there but here is a different place.”

Mbotela thus devised the name ‘Je Huu Ni Ungwana’, which went on to premiere on the national broadcaster.

“From that day, I started the programme 'Je hii ni ungwana' as a quarter-hour programme but now my boss re-edited it and it was extended to half an hour and is still on up to this date,” he said.

The 82-year-old journalist is a member of the National Heroes Council, a position to which he was appointed by Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage Amina Mohamed in August this year.