Listen Kipkalya Kiprono Kones, a tough-talking Cabinet Minister in President Moi’s government, was a born orator. His mastery of language helped him influence and inspire people. In meetings he could convince even his diehard opponents to back him and what he stood for. Although among his Kipsigis ethnic community he was not considered to be […]
Listen Kamwithi Munyi was not a man who could be easily ignored. A Cabinet Minister with a penchant for eccentric behaviour, one could not help but notice him during public gatherings presided over by the Head of State, Daniel arap Moi. Appointed Minister for Cooperatives and Development following his nomination to Parliament after the 1992 […]
Listen Just before independence, Maina Wanjigi was a lowly assistant agricultural extension officer being pushed around by unschooled but senior colonial officers in Nyeri District. The tables would however soon be turned as Wanjigi became the first Director of Settlement in independent Kenya, responsible for settling thousands of landless citizens. The one million-acre settlement scheme […]
Listen James Kabingu Muregi was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Nyandarua South in 1969 and he held the seat until 1979. From 1975, Muregi also doubled as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly following the detention of Jean-Marie Seroney. Seroney was jailed together with Martin Shikuku for dismissing the ruling party, the […]
Listen One of very few Kenyans of Somali descent to have risen to positions of influence in President Daniel arap Moi’s administration, Hussein Maalim Mohamed was a politician who tactfully avoided controversy, except when it came to defending the rights of his people. He made history as the longest-serving Cabinet Minister from the region formerly […]
Listen The 29 January 1988 issue of The Weekly Review news magazine carried on its cover a portrait of Henry Kosgey, the Minister for Culture and Social Services, bearing the headline ‘Man in Trouble’. Inside, the article stated that the KANU Nandi District powerbrokers at that time, Mark arap Too and Ezekiel Bargetuny, had decided […]
Listen Apart from politics, Darius Mbela made a mark as a choral composer, singer and conductor. He was “the only old boy who had sung his way into Parliament”, Mbela’s fellow Alliance High School alumnus, Attorney General Amos Wako, once said of him. Accompanied by the St Stephen’s Church Choir, he was reportedly involved in […]
Listen Dr Bonaya Adhi Godana came from a very poor background and how he managed to beat all odds to become a legislator left many puzzled. His Gabra community was barely known beyond Marsabit District (now known as Marsabit County). The former herdsboy’s struggle to go to school and eventually become a distinguished lawyer before […]
Listen When Daniel Musyoka Mutinda was appointed to head the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, it was a relatively small docket presiding over only the Kenya News Agency and the Voice of Kenya (VoK). He concentrated his efforts on improving broadcast services to reach more Kenyans through the installation of more short-wave and VHF radio […]
Listen Mathews Joseph Ogutu, the Minister for Tourism and Wildlife in President Jomo Kenyatta’s last Cabinet, was born in Uyundo Village, Sega, in Siaya District in 1931. He was an ordinary boy whose father, Julius Oduor, would later be appointed as an assistant chief. Even as Ogutu walked to Uyundo Primary School and later crossed […]