Listen In 2002, a Finance prodigy made an important decision. He would make a move from the private sector where he was already excelling and throw his hat into the political arena. Perhaps he needed the challenge, perhaps he realized his talents could benefit his country; whatever the case, in the year he turned 40, […]
Listen On the eve of New Year, 2008, at a church in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, marauding youths besieged the Kenya Assemblies of God Church at Kiambaa. They killed 35 men, women and children that had sought refuge in the House of God. Pastor Stephen Mburu, who witnessed and survived the attack, described […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Listen Beth Wambui Mugo is an early inductee to the inner sanctums of power, as she was a favourite of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. She clearly stayed the course, becoming Nairobi’s first ever woman Member of Parliament (MP) in 1997. Before her foray into politics, where she left ineradicable mark in human rights, and in the […]
Listen In appointing Khalif Minister for Labour and Manpower Development in 2003, Kibaki had brought to his government one of the most iconic leaders of the Second Liberation movement from northern Kenya — a region not associated at the time with mainstream opposition politics. The pride of Wajir, he became the first Cabinet minister from […]
Listen The aftermath of the these elections had plunged Kenya into uncertainty as post-polls violence threatened to ground the country. The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by Raila Odinga had refused to accept the results of the Presidential election, which declared Kibaki, running under the Party of National Unity (PNU), as the victor. This protest […]
Listen On January 15, 2008, at the height of the post-election violence that erupted after the disputed 2007 election, the then 33-year-old MP stirred up drama in Parliament when he swore by “President Raila Amolo Odinga”, contrary to the prescribed oath-taking manner where officials swore by the elected President and the country. Mr Namwamba inserted […]