Listen Born in 1914 to pioneer Christians Samuel Gitau and Mariam Nyaguthii, James Samuel Gichuru was the first of nine children. His 90-year-old sister Hannah Wanjiku says that at a young age, Gichuru led a life different from boys his age, mostly because his parents were religious and put education ahead of traditional cultural activities. […]
Listen What comes to one’s mind whenever one converses with James Charles Nakhwanga Osogo is Shakespeare’s dictum in as you like it: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts…” At his Kilimani home […]
Listen Born in Kisii on December 28, 1927, James Miyenda Nyamweya was the fifth child of Pastor Paul Nyamweya and Louise Manyange. His father had another wife, Len Kwamboka. James had seven siblings and three half-siblings. In the late 1950s, Nyamweya left for the United Kingdom to study law. His daughter, Joyce (a former Permanent […]
Listen Isaac Edwin Omolo Okero had a relatively successful political career between 1969 and 1979 as a Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament for Gem constituency in Siaya District. He served in various ministries in the Kenyatta administration between 1969 and 1978 and briefly in President Moi’s government as the Minister for Power and Communications […]
Listen In his sunset years, Jackson Harvester Angaine styled himself the “King of Meru”. He will be remembered as the minister who had the trickiest docket in independent Kenya: Settling millions of landless Kenyans in the former White Highlands. He also played a leading role in creating an African propertied class, leading to gross inequities […]
Listen After a bright teaching career, Eliud Ngala Mwendwa was appointed to Kenyatta’s first Cabinet, served in several ministries and was the architect of some landmark achievements. As Minister for Labour, he was instrumental in the conception of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the National Youth Service (NYS). The son of a paramount […]
Listen Daniel Musyoka Mutinda is skinny, tall and dapper. He has a quiet, thoughtful mien and is scholarly-looking, complete with reading glasses. And that is not for nothing — he has a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, political science and economics from Syracuse University in New York and a law degree from the University […]
Listen If reference checks were the key to securing a Cabinet position, Dawson Mwanyumba would not have made it to Kenyatta’s first Cabinet as Minister for Public Works, Communications and Power. A trained mathematics teacher who was quick to anger and even faster to use his fist against those he found too slow for his […]
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 […]
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 […]