Senior Chief Koinange was among the main suspects in the ****** of Chief Waruhiu whose death triggered the State of Emergency in 1952.
As a result, he was arrested and remanded in Nairobi Prison where he remained for six months. At the age of 85, he was oldest prisoner in Kenya.
Even though he was later acquitted of the charges, he was rearrested and transferred to Marsabit where he was detained under the Emergency Regulations.
Some of his family members who included his wives daughters ,sons in law , sons were also rounded up and detained in various camps . Almost the entire family was locked up except two of his sons one of whom was a Colonial Chief .
Koinange's sons Mbiyu, Fredrick and James were detained on Manda Island while his wives and other family members were detained at Kajiado
Considering his advanced age, the Colonial Government arranged for some of his relatives to join him in Marsabit so that they could take care of him, but he rejected the offer out of fear that they could also be detained.
With Koinange's health deteriorating, his three sons who were serving their jail terms on Manda Island wrote a letter to the Governor pleading with him to have mercy on their father on humanitarian grounds.
Because of this plea, the government transferred Koinange to Kabarnet in 1957 , because it was considered to be less remote compared to Marsabit .
In July 1960, because of immense pressure, the Governor agreed to transfer Koinange who was now in his 90s to Kiambu but on one condition. He was to remain under restriction in the home of his son Chief Charles Karuga Koinange. Karuga would later become a Provincial Commissioner after independence.
Nevertheless, high secrecy was maintained by the Government in its plans to transfer Koinange to Kiambu. It only revealed the plan late at night presumably to avoid the possibility of people coming out to demonstrate.
Chief Charles Karuga Koinange made the two way Journey of 400 miles to Kabarnet to collect his aged father and drove back with him in an ambulance to Kiambaa.
In Kiambaa the frail looking Koinange was not allowed to talk to visitors unless one got permission from the DC Kiambu as per the restriction orders.