Listen It clearly emerged in her highly acclaimed eulogy at Moi’s funeral in February 2020, that Sally Kosgei has great insights into not just the workings, the controversies, the power play, and the failings of Kenya’s past presidential regimes but also the geopolitical realities they have had to weather. Besides, she knows a load about […]
Author: Julie Nyawira
Henry Obwocha – The bespectacled ‘dragonfly’
Listen Having both been educated in the UK – Mr Obwocha with a master’s degree in economics from Oxford, and Mr Kibaki with a master’s degree also in economics from the London School of Economics – Mr Obwocha had come into the President’s court under the wings of Simeon Nyachae’s Ford People. The party, together […]
Henry Kosgey – The every party chairman
Listen Kosgey was a loyal aide to President Daniel arap Moi, evident in the six Cabinet positions (including Transport and Communications, Culture and Social Services, Education, and Cooperative Development) he served in the Kenya African National Union (KANU) government between 1979 and 2002. “I was a good student of Moi and loyal to the government […]
Hellen Sambili – The quiet pioneer
Listen She joined 15 other women elected to Parliament in the December 2007 elections, after she swept aside five male candidates and made it on a ticket of an almost inconsequential political party, the United Democratic Movement (UDM). Instructively, since its establishment before the 1997 General Election, Mogotio Constituency has been dominated by the independence […]
Githu Muigai – Doyen of circumspect phraseology
Listen Muigai is a founding partner at one of the most successful indigenous law practices in Kenya, Mohammed Muigai LLP, where his prowess was undisputed. His legal scholarship, already well developed at graduation from the University of Nairobi in 1983, was solidified at Columbia Law School where he earned his Master’s in Law. Upon returning […]
Gideon Konchella – The eagle that dared
Listen Immigration Minister Gideon Konchellah, a former military officer, surprised friend and foe alike when he went before a Commission of Inquiry to disown the so called Artur brothers who he described as “dubious international crooks”. Observers expected him to cover up the situation to save the government’s face. The saga came to light in […]
Esther Murugi – The pocket rocket
Listen Esther Murugi Mathenge is like an African red bullet chilly, small physically but packs the hardest of punches. And those who have gone head-to-head with her in the political arena have realised — but mostly too late — that often, a swing from her results in the end of the bout. In her […]
David Mwiraria – President’s ally and confidant
Listen David — and to some simply Daudi — Mwiraria, the numbers man, veteran technocrat and politician is arguably Kenya’s most formidable Treasury chief after Mwai Kibaki. He died of bone cancer in 2017. Describing him as a ‘friend, confidant, co-worker and trusted ally’, Kibaki, his former teacher at Makerere University and long-standing boss, celebrated […]
Dalmas Otieno – The level headed veteran
Listen A longtime KANU stalwart in the Moi era, Dalmas Anyango Otieno was perceived as an opportunist among opposition politicians. But when President Mwai Kibaki appointed him minister for Public Service in the Grand Coalition Government, he was tapping into one of the most experienced politicians and bureaucrats well versed in the business of statecraft. […]
Charity Ngilu – The rainbow siren
Listen “You are joking. You are crazy, obviously!” These were the words of a small town businesswoman back in 1992, when the subject of stepping into the world of politics was first broached to her. Who would have thought that just a few years later, she would not only be a seasoned politician, but […]