Listen Simeon Nyachae was an untiring go-getter. Over the years good fortune ushered him into the realms of power and fame. His journey in the public and political life saw him serve the Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki governments. No doubt a child of privilege — the son of colonial chief Musa Nyandusi — he served […]
Listen Peter Njeru Ndwiga, the Minister for Cooperative Development and Marketing in the first of President Mwai Kibaki’s two terms, was one of the most loyal and non-controversial ministers. The Member of Parliament for Manyatta Constituency was also the only Cabinet Minister at the time from the then Embu and Mbeere districts. The political collaboration […]
Listen When it comes to loyalty, few men exemplify it as much as Ochilo George Mbogo Ayacko, whose decision to stick with his political mentor, Raila Odinga, saw him demoted from a powerful ministry to a less influential one, and then fired from President Mwai Kibaki’s Cabinet one short year later. The soft-spoken but fierce […]
Listen Njenga Karume and Mwai Kibaki were the best of friends. But how Karume, a Standard 4 primary school dropout, could hobnob with an economist, who had not only lectured at the prestigious Makerere University but also passed all his exams with a distinction at both Makerere and at the London School of Economics, was […]
Listen If ever the Mwai Kibaki administration that swept to power in 2003 needed a face to symbolise a new beginning, then Najib Balala, the former Mayor of Mombasa, fit the bill perfectly. In picking the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mvita, Mombasa’s inner city, President Kibaki chose a performer and an early bloomer who […]
Listen There is something steely about Naomi Namsi Shaban’s demeanour. It is as if underneath her trademark colourful head wraps lies an impenetrable steel helmet made to deflect missiles directed at her in her decades long career in politics. This was not just a character attributed to her, but to the Mwai Kibaki Presidency and […]
Listen Samuel Losuron Poghisio joined the Cabinet in 2008, during President Mwai Kibaki’s second term. He was appointed following the National Accord that established a coalition government after the disputed presidential election of 2007, in which Kibaki had been declared the winner. Poghisio was given the influential docket of Information and Communication, which was surprising […]
Listen In Kenya, Cabinet positions cannot be said to carry equal weight – or that they are one and the same. Each portfolio has its own influence and clout, and this perhaps explains why appointments to certain Cabinet positions have been a scramble. Of note are ministries of finance, internal security, health, energy and power […]
Listen As the biblical story goes, Noah was chosen to perpetuate the human race, leaving his wicked contemporaries to perish in a deluge. Tasked with building an ark to house the chosen few, the patriarch also let in all animals, male and female, according to God’s commandment. Fast-forward to the story of the National Rainbow […]
Listen Newton Wanjala Kulundu, the medic-turned-politician, was easy to underestimate. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Lurambi, a constituency carved out of the then larger Kakamega District (now Kakamega County) at independence, had a somewhat laboured manner of speech that underlined humble beginnings and rural schooling. It wouldn’t be a misnomer to claim that Kulundu […]