Listen Kipkalya Kiprono Kones was part of President Mwai Kibaki’s Cabinet for just 57 days before his death in a plane crash on 10 June 2008, aged 56. Given such a brief stint, it is difficult to put a finger on any agenda he might have had that would have contributed to the legacy of […]
Listen In the rough and tumble of Nairobi City politics, Maina Kamanda was to Mwai Kibaki what Fred Fidelis Gumo was to Daniel arap Moi. A streetwise mobiliser, Kamanda stormed the political scene through his election as councilor for Ngara in 1979 aged only 28. He was for many years Kibaki’s commander in Nairobi City, […]
Listen President Mwai Kibaki’s wife, Lucy Kibaki, was known as a person of influence who would not hesitate to call out individuals she believed were driving the country the wrong way. She was also said to have some measure of influence concerning government appointments, which is how Mohammed Abdi Kuti, a medical doctor and first-time […]
Listen Before his appointment to President Mwai Kibaki’s Cabinet, Moody Awori was unflatteringly referred to as the permanent Assistant Minister in political circles. This was well founded in fact because in previous administrations, he had served in that position in various dockets, among them the Office of the President, Foreign Affairs and Tourism and Wildlife. […]
Listen Prior to his appointment as Minister for Tourism and Wildlife in 2005, Morris Mwachondo Dzoro was the Assistant Minister for Public Service. His rise to the helm of the Tourism and Wildlife docket came through rather tragic circumstances as his predecessor, Emmanuel Karisa Maitha, had died suddenly on 27 August 2004. Maitha was not […]
Listen Appointed Minister for Public Service in 2006, this banker-turned-priest, Reverend Moses Akaranga, is remembered for initiating performance contracting and the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) in the civil service. He also oversaw the review of salaries and pensions for the entire public service sector Appointed Minister for Public Service in 2006, this banker-turned-priest, Reverend Moses […]
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 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 […]
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 […]