Listen Eliud Timothy Mwamunga was an astute politician in post-independent Kenya, navigating turbulent political waters to serve in the Cabinets of Presidents Kenyatta and Moi. He later co-founded the Democratic Party of Kenya (DP) that would play the initial role in catapulting Kibaki to become Kenya’s third President. A wealthy landowner in a constituency endowed […]
Author: Julie Nyawira
Daniel arap Moi – The giraffe that sees far
Listen Daniel Toroitich arap Moi was born on September 2, 1924, at Kurieng’wo, Sacho, Baringo District. He was the fifth child of his father’s senior wife. Moi was named Toroitich, which means “welcome the cattle home”, a clear indication of the central role of cattle in his culture. Moi’s father died when he (Moi) was […]
Argwings Kodhek – Mau Mau lawyer
Listen In 1963, Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta appointed C.M.G. Argwings-Kodhek an Assistant Minister for Defence. In 1966, he was promoted to head the Ministry of Natural Resources and eventually in 1967 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was a true hero of the independence movement whose personal sacrifice, determined resistance and unfailing courage are good […]
Jomo Kenyatta, Alliance High School and Carey Francis
Listen Before it opened in January 1926, Alliance High School was supposed to be a medical college. But how the failure to build the college would later transform both the political landscape and shape a new elite that would rule Kenya for ages is the epic story of the institution at Kikuyu. Alliance alumni dominated […]
Jomo Kenyatta in Lodwar and Maralal
Listen Kenyatta’s prison term at Lokitaung ended on April 14, 1959, and the restriction order passed by Thacker and confirmed by Baring in September 1954 was immediately applied. He was moved to Lodwar, in Turkana, the administrative centre for the Northern Frontier District, some 90 miles ( 144km)from Lokitaung, where some bungalows had been built […]
How Jomo Kenyatta settled in Ichaweri
Listen The declaration of a state of emergency gave the Government the perfect excuse it had been seeking to not only round up all “the political undesirables”, but also start executing a system of disinheriting the seized leaders of their land. When the issue of political repression arose in Britain days before declaration of the State […]
Mathews Joseph Ogutu – Tourism minister who spearheaded ban on game trophy trade
Listen Mathews Joseph Ogutu, the Minister for Tourism and Wildlife in President Jomo Kenyatta’s last Cabinet, was born in Uyundo Village, Sega, in Siaya District in 1931. He was an ordinary boy whose father, Julius Oduor, would later be appointed as an assistant chief. Even as Ogutu walked to Uyundo Primary School and later crossed […]
Peter Mbiyu Koinange – The cautious politician
Listen Peter Mbiyu Koinange, the long-standing confidant and bosom buddy of founding President Jomo Kenyatta, served under his successor President Daniel arap Moi for a very fleeting, and what may well be described as lonely, stint. Used to literally being the President’s right hand man and constant companion, in the Moi administration Koinange found himself […]
Yusuf Haji – Master of the balancing
Listen Mohammed Yusuf Haji sports the classic door-knocker beard. It is a style he adopted after he left the provincial administration in 1997, when he was nominated to Parliament by former President Daniel arap Moi. He has mellowed with age too, in a departure from times past – in June 1988, for instance, he earned […]
Wycliffe Oparanya – Vision 2030 champion
Listen With his unmistakable picture of calm and serenity even in stormy political meetings, Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya became President Mwai Kibaki’s alter ego in the tumultuous Government of National Unity formed after the disputed 2007 elections. In the days of performance contracting in government during the President’s final term, the now 64-year-old Governor of Kakamega […]