Listen Robert John Ouko, once the Kisumu Town Member of Parliament, will go down in history as one of the most celebrated Foreign Affairs ministers Kenya has ever had. Ouko, called Bob by his friends, was a diplomat par excellence. He had an impeccable record in that prestigious docket in President Daniel arap Moi’s Cabinet […]
Listen ‘Chairman,’ the name by which Elijah Wasike Mwangale came to be known, was coined by President Daniel arap Moi when he was still Vice President and Leader of Government Business in Parliament. Mwangale gave Moi a difficult time on the floor of the House as a government critic during President Jomo Kenyatta’s tenure. He […]
Listen During the course of his illustrious political career spanning two decades, Eliud Timothy Mwamunga is credited with establishing a sterling track record in the eyes of his constituents as their Member of Parliament, and being instrumental in helping shape the social, political and economic future of post-independent Kenya. Born on 21 July 1935 at […]
Listen Cyrus Shakhalaga Khwa Jirongo is a flamboyant politician whose fidelity to politics – and to business – is always a subject of heated discussion. A man whose politics and wealth are linked to a questionable assembly of youthful leaders that campaigned for the re-election of President Daniel arap Moi in 1992, Jirongo has shifted […]
Listen Chrysanthus Barnabas Okemo, Kenya’s eighth Finance minister, joined the National Treasury at a time when the country was having difficulties with donors. Okemo became part of what was dubbed the “dream team” — a group of leading personalities from the private sector selected to revive the country’s ailing economy — when he was appointed […]
Listen Stephen Oluoch Ondiek joined the Cabinet as Minister for Manpower Development in 2001 when most Nyanza leaders had abandoned KANU and President Daniel arap Moi to join the Opposition. Nyanza, and specifically Luo-Nyanza, chose to have nothing to do with Moi and his KANU regime after the reintroduction of multiparty democracy in 1992. Their […]
Listen When Arthur Kinyanjui Magugu entered politics at the age of 35, he surprised many by ousting former Githunguri MP and vocal freedom fighter Waira wa Kamau. This was in 1969. The son of a Senior Chief and a graduate of La Verne and Stockholm universities, Magugu was appointed as an Assistant Minister for Health […]
Listen Chris Mogere Obure was one of the longest-serving members of the Moi administration having first been appointed assistant minister for Labour in 1984 with Robert Ouko as his minister. His political career started in 1969 when he entered the race for the Bomachoge Bassi constituency parliamentary seat, which he lost. He lost again in […]
Listen Charles Wanyoike Rubia was the first African mayor of Nairobi. Over the span of his career as a public servant, he rose to become a Member of Parliament, assistant minister and Cabinet minister before he joined the opposition movement that agitated for multipartism in the 1990s. Rubia was born in 1923 in Mariaini in […]
Listen If Charles Mugane Njonjo was President Jomo Kenyatta’s powerful legal advisor and Attorney General, he wielded even more power as President Daniel arap Moi’s close and trusted Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister until an acrimonious political fallout tore them asunder. Under the Kenyatta administration, Njonjo held the Sword of Damocles and later played kingmaker […]