Stanley Shapashina ole Oloitiptip was a Cabinet Minister in Jomo Kenyatta’s Kenya and Daniel T. arap Moi’s Kenya. A joke was told of Stanley Shapashina ole Oloitiptip here in Kenya throughout the 1980s, well into the 1990s i.e. Kenya’s 2nd President Daniel T. arap Moi visited the United Kingdom in June 1979 in a high profile highly publicised State visit, at which Baba Moi was hosted at three separate high profile functions i.e. by Queen Elizabeth II at a State Dinner at Buckingham Palace, by then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at No. 10 Downing Street i.e. the official residence of the British Prime Minister, and by the Captains of Commerce, Industry and Manufacturing in Britain in those days. It was no doubt a State visit at which both Kenya and Britain gave mutual assurances to each other that the “special relationship” between Kenya and Britain would continue undeterred following the transfer of power the previous year from Jomo Kenyatta to Daniel T. arap Moi.
The joke goes that at the State Dinner at Buckingham Palace given by Queen Elizabeth II, the cutlery at the dinner tables was expensive and gold plated i.e. gold plated knives, forks and spoons. When the Kenyan delegation was settling down, the joke goes that Oloitiptip spotted G.G. Kariuki, then an Assistant Minister, slipping two gold plated knives in his right coat pocket, and two gold plated spoons and two gold plated forks in his left coat pocket, in a hidden corner.
After the dinner, formalities and speeches, the British delegation offered light entertainment by way of some humourous experiences they had on visits to Kenya. The Kenyan delegation was then invited to offer some light entertainment too.
The joke goes that Oloitiptip quickly shot up and said that he would perform a marvelous magic trick.
Oloitiptip then put two gold plated knives in his right coat pocket, and two gold plated spoons and two gold plated forks in his left coat pocket, and then looked at G.G. Kariuki and said in Kiswahili “Haiya G.G., zitoe kwa mfuko zako na kushoto na kulia” i.e. “OK G.G., remove them from your left & right coat pockets” i.e. it was Stanley Shapashina ole Oloitiptip who left Buckingham Palace with stolen gold plated cutlery, not G.G. Kariuki.
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