Listen Having been a minister for nearly 10 years, Mr Otieno knew the nooks and crannies of the civil service well enough to fix where it was broken. Even though he had been a Kanu loyalist nearly all his life, he understood that he was serving a reformist government and he went about initiating changes, […]
Listen It was during Peter Castro Oloo Aringo’s tenure as Minister for Education that the 8-4-4 system of education was introduced. Additionally, the Kenya Science Teachers’ College was expanded and the Kenya Technical Trainers’ College (KTTC) was launched to address the needs of the new technical education system. It was also Aringo who presented bills […]
Listen Throughout his political career that spanned the colonial years until 1990, Peter Habenga Okondo was known for being outrageously outspoken; so much so that the media commonly referred to him as a man with a loose tongue. During the 1992 multiparty election campaigns, he was quoted as chiding members of the Opposition in Busia […]
Listen Philip Leakey was the first Minister of European descent in President Daniel arap Moi’s Cabinet. This was not his only first. In 1979, he became the first white Member of Parliament to be elected in independent Kenya. He was MP for Langata Constituency from 1979, when the first General Election under Moi was held, […]
Listen Paul Joseph Ngei had a burning, often-expressed ambition to succeed Kenya’s first President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. This yearning for power would later become his albatross when he was a Cabinet Minister under President Daniel arap Moi. Due to his close association with Kenyatta spanning nearly 20 years, Ngei regarded himself as second only to […]
Listen Paul Kipkorir Marsin Sang was the MP for Bureti and Minister for Health shortly before the Opposition’s National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) dethroned the ruling party, KANU, from power. He had been a teacher before plugging into politics in 1997. He mobilised grassroot support and defeated the late Jonathan Kimetet Ng’eno, who was a confidant […]
Listen Ojwang’ K’Ombudo, an erstwhile Member of Parliament for Nyakach, worked for a relatively brief period in the Cabinet of President Daniel arap Moi. The fiery MP served for several months during a turbulent time in the country’s history as Moi, who doubled as Chairman of the ruling party, KANU, gave in to pressure from […]
Listen Stockbroker Ngenye Kariuki was elected Member of Parliament for Kiharu in 1997 on a Safina party ticket. He was among the Opposition politicians who were vocal critics of President Daniel arap Moi’s regime, but in the twilight days of the administration he shifted his support to the ‘Uhuru for President’ campaign and accepted a Cabinet […]
Listen Wilson Ndolo Ayah’s political fortunes took a turn for the better when President Daniel arap Moi appointed him Minister for Research, Science and Technology. The story surrounding this promotion is worth re-telling. It all began on a certain day in August 1987. Ayah had been unwell and was resting at home when the […]
Listen Nahashon Kanyi Waithaka was an influential figure, especially in the 1970s and early 1980s when he was mayor in his home town of Nyeri, the administrative headquarters of Central Province. President Daniel arap Moi appointed Waithaka to the powerful post of Minister of State in charge of Internal Security in late 1991 after transferring […]