Paul Ngei and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, alongside the rest of the "Kapenguria Six" Bildad Kaggia, Kung'u Karumba, Fred Kubai, and Achieng' Oneko were imprisoned at Kapenguria following their arrest on October 20, 1952.
They were held there during their trial for allegedly managing the Mau Mau uprising, which lasted from December 1952 to April 1953.
All men were in jail for allegations of managing the maumau resistance force which was involved in active push for independence from the British.
In 1953, all the men were sentenced to seven years and had labour at the Lokitaung Prison by Ransley Thacker who had received a £20,000 bribe from the Britons to nail them (the six).
The money amounts to Sh2.6 million in today's value and landed the group in prison, where jealousy overcame the five on seeing Kenyatta being given favours due to his age.
When Ngei and Kenyatta were imprisoned at Kapenguria, they both wrote to Margaret often and one day their letters were mixed up and Kenyatta got a hold of what Ngei had penned Margaret.
According to Kenyatta's biographer, Jeremy Murray-Brown, Ngei was complaining about the prison's maddening solitude in the intercepted letter.
Ngei even sent love letters to Kenyatta’s daughter while they were still in prison.
Having secretly investigated, it is further reported that Jomo accidentally came across Ngei’s letters and, turning to him, exclaimed: “Hey, what are you going to say now? I’ve caught you, ehee! You’ve kept quiet for a long time, and here you are, a son-in-law, yet you never said a thing—hey?”
He openly reacted with fury, something that developed into a tense relationship between the two former Kapenguria Six detainees.
Referencing the tense situation as a notable family anecdote, The Standard Newspaper highlighted a headline that reads, “When Jomo Kenyatta caught Paul Ngei flirting with his daughter Margaret"
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