G-SPOT: Laughing uneasily: A history of April’s most serious jokes

Pranks, in theory, are meant to last just one day. However, a casual stroll through historical news archives suggests that in some places, April Fools’ is less a day and more a governing philosophy. 

The jokes do not end at noon; they linger, mutate and occasionally take up permanent residence in public life. Worse still, they are not always funny haha, more often funny peculiar, in the way that makes you laugh first and then quietly question everything.

Take, for instance, April 1991. Thirty-five years ago, Kenyans woke up to a front-page story that felt suspiciously like a prank, except it wasn’t printed on April 1st but on April 3. A British man extradited to Kenya with the help of Interpol had allegedly been pardoned by the Attorney General.

The man in question, Shantilal Gulabchand Shah, had been sentenced to 18 years for conspiracy to defraud Sh15 million, a tidy sum in 1991, when the dollar hovered around Sh27.50. Justice, it seemed, had been served. For about five days.

A week earlier, reports had already suggested that Shah had mysteriously vanished from custody, a disappearing act that would make seasoned illusionists reconsider their career choices. The embarrassment prompted the Attorney General, Mathew Muli, to call a press conference.

His explanation? He had exercised the prerogative of mercy after discovering that Shah suffered from life-threatening ailments. A noble gesture, one might say, except for the small technicality that such powers traditionally belong to the President.

Journalists and lawyers, apparently immune to the April spirit, raised inconvenient questions. Muli, however, maintained there was nothing unusual about the situation. When asked where Shah actually was, he pleaded ignorance.

During his remand, Shah had reportedly spent most of his time at Kenyatta National Hospital due to illness. 

In a final twist worthy of dark comedy, records suggest that a man bearing the same name died in 1993 at the age of 66. So perhaps he really was ill after all. 

But Kenya was not alone in hosting such surreal episodes. April, it seems, has a global franchise.

In 1967, the world witnessed what might be the diplomatic equivalent of a destination wedding. The President and Vice President of Gabon were sworn into office, not in their own country, but in Paris.

According to reports, Léon M’ba took his oath at the Gabonese Embassy while convalescing in France. His deputy, Omar Bongo (then Albert Bongo) and National Assembly president Georges Damas flew in for the ceremony.

It was, by all accounts, the first time a head of state was sworn in while technically abroad, proving that sovereignty, like humour, can be flexible when required. M’ba would die later that year in Paris, leaving Bongo to take over and remain in power for 42 years, which is either a testament to stability or a very long-running sequel nobody quite knew how to end.

Closer to the present, April continues to deliver its peculiar brand of storytelling. In March 2026, more than 30 bodies were discovered in a mass grave at Makaburini cemetery in Kericho, prompting investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. The discovery followed reports by two gravediggers who noticed suspicious activity.

Disturbing as it is, this was not without precedent. On April 30, 1991, 10 corpses were reportedly removed from New Nyanza General Hospital and buried in a mass grave just hours before a visit by then Health Minister Mwai Kibaki. 

Officials denied wrongdoing, of course. Bodies, like facts, sometimes have a habit of relocating themselves when inspections are imminent.

And so, as April rolls around each year, we are reminded that while pranksters may limit themselves to rubber snakes and fake headlines, reality often outpaces satire. The true genius of April Fools’ Day is not in the jokes we tell, but in how easily the world provides better ones, free of charge, and with consequences that linger long after the laughter fades.