Nicholas Biwott, Joshua Kulei and the empires they built under Moi

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SUNDAY JULY 23 2017

Joshua Kulei (left) and Nicholas Biwott. PHOTOS | FILE 

In Summary

• The two rose from obscurity.
• By the time President Daniel Moi left power in 2002, they had joined the exclusive club of Kenya’s billionaires.

By SUNDAY NATION REPORTER
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Of all the posse of career civil servants, politicians and advisers who were in the inner circle of President Daniel Moi during his 24 years at the helm, two of them emerged extraordinarily wealthy in a manner that has often been called into question.

Nicholas Biwott, a former Cabinet minister who was buried this week in his farm in Elgeyo Marakwet, and Joshua Kulei, President Moi’s personal secretary, rose from obscurity and by the time Moi left power in 2002, they had joined the exclusive club of Kenya’s billionaires.

Over the course of Moi’s presidency, they built enviable business empires spanning nearly all sectors of the Kenyan economy. Their businesses stretch beyond Kenya’s borders all the way to Namibia, Australia, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.

'FAT KICKBACKS'

However, the Opposition often claimed that their wealth was corruptly acquired by looting Kenya’s fragile economy at an industrial scale through fat kickbacks for contracts for mega projects and by manipulating the financial sector to their advantage but to the detriment of the majority.

Biwott’s enormous wealth coupled with his closeness with Moi gave him unrivalled political clout which he used to ruthlessly silence the president’s critics and made him one of the most feared and reviled figures in the Kanu era.

Biwott represented Keiyo South constituency in Parliament from 1979 to 2007 during which he became the public face of the excesses of the Kanu administration. On the other hand, Kulei was content to be the man in the shadows but wielded power quietly but effectively.

REPRESENTED INTERESTS

A former warder, he represented President Moi’s business interests, a privileged position that gave him the opportunity to build an impressive business portfolio of his own which later became a source of friction between him and Moi’s sons, Gideon and Philip.

“While Mark Too (former Nominated MP who died in January this year) was taking care of his political issues, Kulei was taking care of the business side of things,” said a former State House operative during President Moi’s era, who requested to speak freely in the background so as not to appear as disrespecting the retired president.

Physically, Biwott and Kulei look like brothers. They are both diminutive, soft-spoken and deceptively shy. But their dour nature cleverly masks a determined ruthlessness and unbridled ambition for capital accumulation.

The two shared little else. Biwott and Kulei were never really close friends, according to a top city lawyer who once represented President Moi. “Biwott looked down upon Kulei because of his low education,” he said.

“However, Kulei relished this harmless, underdog perception that Biwott had of him. He set out to prove wrong those who thought less of him,” the lawyer said. Despite their differences, Biwott and Kulei were pragmatic enough to tolerate each other in service of President Moi and in their common pursuit of wealth.

EXTENT REVEALED

The extent of the business dealings of the trio was revealed in a report prepared by Kroll and Associates, a private investigative company based in London in the United Kingdom, which was contracted by the Narc administration in 2003 to trace the loot allegedly stashed abroad by Moi and his associates.

Kroll submitted their 106-page report to the government in April 2004 but it was never made public until it was leaked in August 2007 by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The report revealed that Kulei represented Moi in more than 50 companies operating in all sectors of the economy.

“It has been reported that Kulei holds serious investments in London, including a palatial residence in upmarket London, where his children have always attended school. Further sources confirm that Kulei has two properties in Surrey, the larger of which is owned by ex-president Moi,” said the report.

Some of the companies jointly owned by the former president and Kulei include Sian Roses on a 60:40 basis. (The name is derived from Kulei’s family name Chemusian). They also co-own Ngata Flower Farm in Nakuru on a 50:50 basis, the report said. Furthermore, Kulei and Gideon each owned 12.5 per cent of Siginon Freight, a transport company, while Kabarak High School owns 75 per cent, the report said.

OWNERSHIP CHANGE

The ownership of these companies could have changed over time since the trio have since divided up most of the property they co-owned. Just before Kanu was booted out of power, Kulei relinquished most of the property he held in trust for President Moi, said the Kroll report.

It was at this point that he ran into trouble with Moi’s sons, Philip and Gideon, who believed that he had conned their father. “Gideon kept convincing his father that Kulei may have more money than him as a result of using the ex-president’s name,” said the Kroll report.

Fearing for his life, “it is understood that it was during the time that Kulei contemplated leaving Kenya to live in London,” the report said.

Sovereign Group Ltd, which is located at Trans National Plaza on Mama Ngina Street in Nairobi, is Kulei’s holding company. The company owns Maasai Ostrich Resort in Kitengela, Merica Hotel in Nakuru and diatomite mines in Kariandusi near Lake Elementaita among other businesses.

SUBSTANTIAL STAKE

He still has a substantial stake in the Standard Group Ltd, the Mombasa Road–based media company that owns the Standard newspaper and KTN television. Kulei is the single largest shareholder in the company with 38 per cent, while Moi and his son Gideon jointly own 52 per cent and the remaining 10 per cent is owned by the public.

On the other hand, Biwott’s flagship investments include the Yaya Centre in Hurlingham, Kenol-Kobil chain of petrol stations and Air Kenya Ltd. He is believed to have a significant interest in HZ Construction Company as well as Safaricom.

Some of the businesses that Biwott co-owned with Moi include the Nakuru based-Lima Ltd, one of the biggest dealers in farm equipment in Kenya, and Trans National Bank. A source said that the Moi family has no interest in the Kenol-Kobil petrol stations as it has been long rumoured.

FEW CO-OWNED

Ironically, there are few companies that Moi, Biwott and Kulei co-owned, which perhaps reflects the uneasy relationship that Biwott and Kulei enjoyed. The Nakuru-based National Milling Corporation, which has since gone under, is one such company which was jointly owned by the trio.

But given the array of businesses that the trio owned, it is possible that there are many more businesses that they still co-own of which little is known about, as evidenced by their fight dating back to 2012 for two pieces of land in Nairobi worth billions of shillings.

The case pits Moi and Biwott on one hand against Kulei whom they accuse of trying to defraud them of the unidentified pieces of prime land. They claimed that Kulei, through a company called Belgo Holdings, was holding the land in trust for Moi, a claim which the former president’s aide denied.

NO COURT

Despite the lawyers of the three billionaires exchanging harsh letters, the matter has never made it to court, something that would have helped shed more light on their business dealings.

By the time the Narc administration received the Kroll report in 2004, it was deeply mired in a corruption scandal of its own – the Anglo Leasing scandal – through which the government is suspected to have lost billions of shillings in fraudulent security contracts.

Narc, which had come to power on an anti-corruption platform, had lost face to act on the Kroll report. After it was leaked by WikiLeaks in 2007, government spokesman Alfred Mutua, who is now the governor of Machakos, dismissed it as a shoddy piece of investigative work.

SUFFER BLOW

Furthermore, Narc’s resolve to pursue Biwott and Kulei over corruption suffered a blow early in the days of the Narc administration after President Kibaki reportedly told his Cabinet that every corruption suspect in Kanu except his predecessor was fair game. Moi was to be left in peace.

“It was impossible to pursue Biwott and Kulei and leave out Moi yet their business dealings were so intertwined,” said Moi’s former lawyer who asked to speak in confidence.

“Touching either of the two would lead to Moi and this is what Kibaki had expressly said no to. Investigators were very limited in what they could do,” he added.

In the end, the Narc administration never charged Biwott or Moi with any of the political or economic crimes that it claimed the two were guilty of. And with Biwott’s death, the chances of this ever happening have quite literally been buried six feet under.

During the former Cabinet minister's funeral on Thursday, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto pledged to defend the Biwott family over the allegations of corruption that have followed the patriarch to the grave. “We will make sure no one touches them,” DP Ruto told the mourners.

By SUNDAY NATION REPORTER

Reasons It's OK To Cut Someone Out Of Your Life

Some people are best appreciated at a distance.You've heard it said, "Everything happens for a reason." This simple concept not only applies to love and career, but it also speaks to our everyday relationships. Each person that has come into our life, whether for a period of days or years, arrived along our path to serve a purpose.

Many times, we don't fully grasp when circumstances change and an individual no longer adds value to our lives. Most people have difficulty figuring out what to do once they realize this. While it may seem somewhat harsh or insensitive to break ties, it is perfectly fine, and in fact, very healthy to cut people off.

Here are a few simple signs that it’s time to let someone go.

1. When You Are No Longer Happy To See Or Be Around Them

If their presence becomes unsettling to your spirit, don’t ignore the signs. Your instincts only pick up on the truth and seek to guide you accordingly. There comes a time when things –– and people –– no longer bring you joy or happiness. It is a sign that there is a need for change, and you have to take the initiative to switch things up. 

2. When They Offer Nothing But Negativity

Attitude is everything. More so, we each have the power to speak things into existence. For those with a positive outlook, the fruits of our thoughts and actions reap positive rewards. Yet, for those who constantly complain or carry an attitude of ungratefulness, the atmosphere becomes filled with gloom and negativity. Individuals who always want to criticize other people show a sure sign of wasting valuable time and energy on the wrong things and, ultimately, are not deserving of yours.

3. When They Want (Or Take) More Than They Give  

Relationships are an exchange. It takes two people mutually invested in making each other better, holding each other accountable and being of help when in need. Those who are always first at the table and walk away with the most before ever leaving anything for others must be forced to take their appetite elsewhere. Relationships should never be more of a burden than a blessing. When you start to feel used or taken advantage of, mentally or spiritually, cut it off quickly.

4. When You Can No Longer Trust Them

Everyone knows that trust is one of most essential factors in any form of relationship. Once it is compromised, things might never be the same. Trust can take years to build and a only a few moments to break. Those who claim a space in your circle must be people you find trustworthy, reliable and genuinely concerned about what is best for you. When the bond is broken or betrayal irreparably sets in, find the exit.

5. When They Are No Longer Supportive

You should always surround yourself with people who support you and your dreams. Though support comes in many forms, the common thread is authenticity and honesty. Those with a true desire to watch you win in life don’t care to offer endless pats on the back or overlook your weaknesses –– they actively push you to be the best version of yourself. Stay clear of those who bring you down rather than lift you up.

All things, including people and feelings, change. When they do change, it is only fair for all parties involved to move on. Every decision you make has a direct impact on your future. As a result, you should never feel guilty for making choices that are in your best interests. You must remember: It’s your life.

Stop financing a lifestyle, wake up; start working on a dream

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How did that fool overtake me? That’s the question that lingers in the minds of most people when they turn 55. They know very well that they studied hard, worked hard and lived a generally organized life. What they really can’t figure out is how that rugged looking, unschooled tout in the street managed to build an economy 100 times better than theirs.

How did that D- (Minus) material manage to own acres and acres of real estate? Or how did that mtumba seller manage to build a bungalow while I am still struggling to pay for a mortgaged two bedroom apartment? Well, that’s the sad reality of life. Sometimes those from whom not much is expected are the ones who pull a couple of surprise moves in life.

This blog brings this into perspective. It’s a life-journey comparison of two people. One is a matatu tout the other one is a banker. One is in a blue-collar worker in a field that is otherwise reserved for those who seem unambitious in life. The other one is an educated, neatly dressed white-collar professional who spends most of his time in some corner office.

The only disclaimer I would like to make is that this story is not meant to demean any career. Its sole aim is to educate you on good and bad choices in life and how they influence who we become.

The Matatu Tout Vs. The Banker

A matatu tout is a career despised by many owing to the fact that it is seen as a preserve for the academically weak and unintelligent people. You only need basic cash-handling skills to venture into this career which means one can get started immediately they finish form four.

On the other hand, a career in banking is coveted by many across the globe. In order to become a banking clerk, you need a Bachelors Degree or at least advanced training in accounts which obviously mean spending at least 3 years in post-secondary school.

According to independent research by the SDE Kenya and Mediamax, on a good day, a tout in a Nairobi matatu takes home Sh 3,000. On a bad day, he takes Sh 1,500.

On the other hand, a spot check on banking clerks salaries in Kenya show that most banks offer a basic salary of Ksh30,000 – Ksh40,000 to their employees.

Remember that a matatu tout can start working almost immediately after form four and so by the time the banker finds a job, the tout already has 3 years of experience. The tout will have already completed his driving classes and just waiting for 2 more years to become a fully-fledged PSV driver. He has by default been “hardened” by rubbing shoulders with the traffic police, city council askaris and NTSA officers.

So let us see how the too manage their life and money differently.

Starting Life

The matatu tout, owing to his perceived “low class” standards is comfortable renting out a house in some dark corner of Githurai 45. That costs him a paltry Ksh3,000 per month. Thanks to the nature of his job, he does not require to pay fare to and from town.

The graduate banker on the other hand due to his perceived “high class” status in society will rent a bed-sitter in Roysambu or any other middle-income estate. That will cost him approximately Ksh10,000 per month. Unlike the tout, he has to pay for matatu fare to and from work every morning.

Fare from Roysambu to town (one-way) is usually Ksh100 during peak hours. Don’t forget the late-night Uber trips the banker has to take after a night out with his fellow educated friends.

How They Save

The matatu tout is naturally able to save more because of his low expenses. If he is wise and disciplined, he will join a SACCO where he will start saving with the dream of purchasing his own matatu. You will find him comfortably taking food in vibandas (temporary sheds) to save an extra coin he can find.

His street survival instincts will have taught him that he can actually take advantage of free transport of his employer’s matatu to be collecting second-hand clothes in Gikomba. So he starts up a small market stall in the busy Githurai market.

On the other hand, the banker will be busy trying to fit into a certain lifestyle. His biggest worry will be how to upgrade from the bed-sitter in Roysambu to a one-bedroom house in Garden Estate or Ruaka. He will also be working very hard to get a loan so that he can buy a car.

His goal is to particularly fit into a lifestyle worthy of a white collar job employee. You will therefore find him busy on social media updating his growing number of online fans on his daily escapades.

As the matatu tout builds his savings and expands his streams of income, the banking clerk gets busy financing a lifestyle.

Five Years Later

Five years down the line, the matatu tout has already become a PSV matatu driver which means his daily take-home has risen from Ksh3,000 to Ksh5,000. He only needs to wait for a few more months and he will be having his own matatu on the road.

Even luckier for him, he already has the hard skills of managing this tricky business. His mtumba business has also blossomed and he has left it to his wife to manage full-time. This brings an extra Ksh1,000 a day to the family’s kitty.

The story of the banker is not all too gloom and doom either. He has already managed to clock in a few more years of experience and has been promoted to a better position. He now takes home Ksh60,000 basic salary per month.

He is already finishing up on repaying the car loan he took during the early years of employment. Next on his plan is to take up another loan to finance his upcoming wedding. His target budget is Ksh1,000,000 wedding.

Note that due to his promotion at work he now has to deal with more workload…meaning his mind is fully occupied and he cannot even think of running a side-hustle.

At 55 Years Of Age

The matatu tout has managed to grow his matatu business from one matatu to a fleet comprising 14 seaters and 33 seater HINO buses. And thanks to his experience on the road, he has been appointed as the head of his matatu sacco.

His mtumba business has also grown into a fully-fledged boutique with branches in Ruai and Ongata Rongai. His wife frequently travels abroad to shop for new supplies for their business. They have also constructed a bungalow in the outskirts of the capital. In just a few more years, they will be constructing some rental apartments in Juja.

The good banker on the other hand will have reached a senior managerial position. Good for him. But that’s the end of the story. He will be stuck in debt. He has a mortgage loan for the apartment he bought in mlolongo – the mortgage loan has a repayment of 30 years meaning he will repay it until he turns 85.

His kids are going to expensive schools and he is already feeling the strain of paying for tuition and boarding fee. To make matters worse, the bank he works for is not doing so well owing to factors like capped interest loan rates and entry of digital banking.

A memo is circulated in the office that some people will be retrenched. He becomes a worried man. His health deteriorates. He is on the verge of having his apartment repossessed if he loses that job. He tries to secure a loan to start a business (remember he has no hands-on experience in managing his own business), it fails. You can now join the dots and figure out what happens to him in his sunset years.

Final Word

Once again, the goal of this story is not to encourage you to despise some jobs. We cannot all become touts. But there is a lesson in it for all of us to learn. The banker in this case is you – the smartly dressed chap who spends his time on Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter etc. The banker is also you – who despise humble beginnings.

That mkokoteni drawing fool you splash water on with your ex-Japan car bought on loan might soon give you a run for your money. Wake up, stop financing a lifestyle. Don’t be a robot. Don’t take a nap in your comfort zone. Wake up and start working on your dream.

Jaramogi and Jomo: A brief history of crony capitalism

FRIDAY JULY 14 2017

President Jomo Kenyatta (right) greets Kenya People's Union leader Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in Kisumu on October 25, 1969. PHOTO 

In Summary

• The free enterprise economy is where people like Jaramogi Odinga and Njenga Karume prospered in the colonial era.

• This was their vision of independence, an equal opportunity economic system, not a continuation of the colonial crony capitalism system that privileged Europeans over the other races.

• The fallout was about Jomo Kenyatta and his cronies using the pretext of Africanisation to enrich and concentrate economic power among themselves.

• They were the lucky ones.

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By DAVID NDII
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In The Politics of Independence of Kenya, Kenneth Kyle narrates an incident at the Lancaster House Conference in which Jaramogi Oginga Odinga let rip on Colonial Secretary Reginald Maulding.

He writes: “Odinga warmed up to his theme. The British were playing, he said, at “divide and rule.” He (Odinga) had been called a communist but he had a greater stake in Kenya. He had 12 children and was the biggest capitalist in the country with £50,000 worth of property.”

The idea that Jaramogi was a socialist, and perhaps even a communist, is accepted by many, perhaps most Kenyans as a historical fact. By today’s value, Jaramogi’s £50,000 wealth at independence is close to Sh140 million. That Jaramogi could have been one of the wealthiest Africans at independence, and a self-confessed capitalist will come as surprise to many.

READ: Why the British feared Jomo Kenyatta rule and rise of power men

The narrative that the Jomo and Jaramogi wings of Kanu were capitalist and communist respectively is a false one. In the transition to independence, left leaning was the default alignment for African nationalists since the East Bloc supported liberalisation movements because the colonial powers were their Western adversaries. Kenyatta himself was associated with the leftist Pan-Africanist movement and had visited the Soviet Union during his sojourn to Britain. Both sides of the Kanu political divide espoused a mixed economy with extensive state intervention, such as price and foreign exchange controls.

One of the tenets of socialism and communist economic systems is collectivisation of land as was pursued by socialist Tanzania, communist Ethiopia, our southern and northern neighbours respectively. The Kanu left wing did not advocate collectivisation of land. The battle was about restitution of land to the people from who it had been taken, a policy that they were all agreed on before against the “willing buyer, willing seller” policy that the Kenyatta column adopted after independence. In effect, they were championing private property rights, only they were championing the property rights of the peasants. Private property is a tenet of capitalism. The land cleavage then, was a war within the capitalist paradigm, not between capitalism and socialism or communism.

READ: Documents on JM Kariuki’s secret tour of Ghana to fix Oginga Odinga

So if both left and right of Kanu were capitalists, what is it that they disagreed on so virulently. The popular narrative is that the dispute was the toxic brew of power politics and tribalism that continues to poison our politics. This is only part of the story, and in my view, not the most salient.

The fiercest protagonists on the land question were Jomo Kenyatta and Bildad Kaggia, both Kikuyus, a contest that ended with Kenyatta’s infamous outburst: “Kaggia, we were together with Paul Ngei in jail; if you go to Ngei’s farm, he has planted a lot of coffee and other crops. What have you done for yourself? If you go to (Fred) Kubai’s, he has a big house and a nice shamba. Kaggia, what have you done for yourself? We were together with Kung’u Karumba in jail, now he is running his own buses. What have you done for yourself?”

Kaggia’s sin was to refuse to join the gravy train. Kaggia remained the moral conscience of the nationalist movement to the end of his days. He was not alone. James Gichuru could theoretically speaking have been Kenya’s first president. He stood down for Kenyatta twice, as president of KAU, Kanu’s precursor upon Kenyatta’s return from Britain in 1947 and again as president of Kanu upon Kenyatta’s release from jail in 1961. Gichuru was Kenya’s first finance minister, and in my book, the most accomplished one to date.

READ: Leaders who shaped Kenya’s political agenda

Gichuru had no interest in self-aggrandisement and social status, preferring to enjoy his tipple with regular folk at Karai Bar and such places, where most of cabinet colleagues never set foot again after they gained access to the erstwhile whites only country clubs and hotels. By the early 70s, he was a disillusioned man, but perhaps too loyal to Kenyatta and Kanu, he drifted off and although he retained a cabinet portfolio to the end, he spent more time in Karai Bar than in his Defence Ministry office.

At the heart of the ideological conundrum lies a remarkably simple conceptual problem, namely the failure to distinguish two paradigms, namely the historical western capitalism, and a free market economy as a universal economic system or theoretical construct as the case may be.

The western capitalist system that emerged from the industrial revolution is one in which capital hires labour. Capital is powerful, and labour is weak. It is prone to concentration of economic power, which invariably translates to political power, thus undermining the democratic principle of political equity. This propensity breeds corruption and state capture, the political system we call crony capitalism. To counter the power of capital, labour has to organise both at the market level (unions) and politically.

READ: How President Kenyatta used British intelligence to spy on his VP Odinga

A free market economy by definition has no particular prescribed industrial structure. It is indifferent as to who owns what, who hires whom as long as capital, labour and goods are traded at market determined prices. In classical capitalism, landowners hire labour and pay them fixed wages, and keep the surplus or loss as the case may be. Ditto owners of industrial capital (machines). In a free market economy, landowners may hire labour, or labour may rent land, pay landowners a fixed rent and keep the surplus (or loss). In a free market economy, other forms of industrial organization may arise.

Case in point: the boda boda industry is now arguably one of the largest sectors of the economy, with close to a million motorcycles on the road. The boda-boda operators either own the motorcycles or rent them from “capitalists.” Some of the “capitalists” are themselves workers in some other organisation. Some operators own more than one motorcycle which they rent out to other operators. What you seldom find in the boda-boda industry, if at all, is the fixed-wage earner whom we find in the dichotomy between capitalism and socialism. It is not possible to put owners of capital and their interests in one group and workers in another. It is a free market enterprise made up primarily of what economic statisticians call “own account workers.”

Our precolonial stateless societies did not have a public ownership of the means of production. They were non-capitalist, free market economies. Informed by their historical experience, European intellectual establishment denotes them as “pre-capitalist”. This an example of the intellectual ditch that Karl Popper termed as “poverty of historicism”. There was nothing socialist about them. They were welfare societies where people shared and looked after their vulnerable in all sorts of mutual reciprocity norms. These were, still are, insurance mechanisms, not socialism as they operate in the domain of consumption, not production.

READ: CIA dossier exposes intrigues of Kenyatta Odinga power games

This free enterprise economy is where people like Jaramogi and Njenga Karume prospered in the colonial era. This was their vision of independence, an equal opportunity economic system, not a continuation of the colonial crony capitalism system that privileged Europeans over the other races. The fallout was about Jomo Kenyatta and his cronies using the pretext of Africanisation to enrich and concentrate economic power among themselves. They were the lucky ones.

In the aftermath of the KPU fallout, Tom Mboya mobilised the emerging technocracy on the progressive agenda in a manner suggesting presidential ambitions. Though a forceful defender of the political status quo, Mboya was not a primitive accumulator. On July 5, 1969, six months to the general elections, he took a bullet. J.M. Kariuki, a wealthy man pronounced himself against crony capitalism forcefully. He met a gruesome death. Robert Ouko an influential but modest Moi insider took the monster on, and met the same fate. Kenneth Matiba an insider broke ranks and found himself in Kamiti. He survived, barely.

In the end, crony capitalism was to meet its match, not in political adversaries, but by its rival system, free market economy which came by way of structural adjustment programmes. Advocates of liberalisation like yours truly who saw in it the potential for unfettering the economy and society from the shackles of the crony capitalist oligarchy were roundly criticised by the political left that was still trapped in the capitalist-socialism paradigm (Younger Kenyans may refer to the Daily Nation archives for the mid-1990s' David Ndii–Gavin Bennet debate on liberalisation of the motor vehicle industry.).

READ: Why leaders shouldn't reopen old wounds

By the mid-1990s, bazaars were everywhere. A decade later, hitherto unassailable pampered monopolistic giants like East African Industries and Unga Group, among others, had been toppled by local upstarts. Ordinary Kenyans could drive decent cars and poor rural folk could wear decent clothes every day of the week.

In 1990, the corporatised economy that we call the “private sector”, employed one and a half times more people (700,000) than informal enterprise (450,000). Two and a half decades on informal enterprise employs almost eight times (13.3m) than the “private sector” (1.8m). While the “private sector” has managed to double its workforce every decade, the informal enterprise has increased its workforce thirty-fold. Had we not liberalised, the social implosion that the 1986 Sessional Paper warned out would have come a decade ago. Case in point: Zimbabwe.

Crony capitalism may have subsided in the market place, but it is far from out. Unable to compete in the consumer market place, it retreated into the state sector, where it has re-invented itself as public-private partnership. Crony capitalism is the driving force behind the Jubilee administration’s debt fuelled mega-infrastructure binge.

There you have it.

David Ndii, an economist, currently serves on the National Super Alliance’s technical and strategy committee, in which he leads Nasa's policy team.

Twitter: @DavidNdii

why Kikuyu women are heavily stereotyped in Kenya today

Crazy Monday   By Crazy Monday Reporter

A lot has been said about Kikuyu women. In fact, of the women from the 42 ethnic communities, no other tribe gets as much flak as them.

They have been accused of all manner of things; they not only ‘sit’ on their husbands, but also beat them up; they kill their men when bored with them to enjoy their property; they walk out of marriages old enough to produce grandchildren, and wags never tire of poking fun at their culinary skills.

Things seem so bad that some parents, including fellow Kikuyus, warn their sons against marrying these women.

But why exactly are Kikuyu women so heavily stereotyped? Well, it is believed that more than females from any other community in Kenya, this lot conforms to the Western notion of ‘liberated‘ women.

Sociologists argue that unlike other Kenyan women, most Kikuyus were emancipated from social shackles and domestic bondage long ago, and have perpetuated this ‘liberation‘ from generation to generation.

Could this be the reason why most Kenyan men date but fear marrying them? Is this why they have high expectations from men? So much that most men can’t cope with them — or vice versa — that they run away (or get kicked out!), making them now produce the highest number of single mother households in the country (if an extrapolation of the 2010 population census is anything to go by)?

Well, historical and anthropological facts reveal the Kikuyu community was, and partly still is, fundamentally matriarchal (led by women) and matrilineal (descended through mothers) and is suffering from the imposition of patriarchy upon it.

Highest number of single mothers

The dominance of these iron ‘ladies’ can be traced back to chief Wangu wa Makeri. Folklore has it that she was the first and only female leader, appointed by the British, in the entire colonial period.

Wangu was a no nonsense leader who terrorised men. The fate of many depended on her whims. Tax evaders peed and crapped on themselves at the mere mention of her name.

Men feared meeting her, and always took cover when she was in vicinity. Reason? She rode on their backs, especially able bodied ones, as a means of transport! Would you believe that?

Kiriro wa Njogu, a 76-year-old elder from Kiambu, humorously says Kikuyu women were liberated long ago and, pardon the pun, are used to ‘being on top of their men’, hardly ‘taking things lying down’.

“Kikuyu women were emancipated from shackles of oppression before Kenya’s independence. Many draw inspiration from Wangu wa Makeri.

Things were so bad during her reign of terror that men even tried in vain to stage a ‘coup’ by impregnating all women so as to overthrow Wangu and the female leadership when all were expectant and vulnerable,” chuckles Njogu, adding, “Oppressive cultural practices biased against women are unheard of among Kikuyus.

Have you ever heard about wife inheritance or rampant polygamy in Central Kenya?”

They hate lazy men

According to the elder, Kikuyu women have been ‘free‘ from way back. He says most are no nonsense, demanding and have very high expectations from men. This pressure, he says is what sends some of their men away or to alcohol.

Hear him: “These women hate lazy men. You must step up to the plate or else reap wrath and get kicked out.

To counter cases of polygamy for instance, they had a practice called kuiyithia (loosely translated ‘to help steal‘, what is nowadays called swinging).

They were so daring that they slept with other men as a recreational or social activity. This was also meant to break jinxes from cursed husbands and to limit the inheritance of negative genes such as stupidity.”

He says kuiyithia was also not just meant to give bachelors a taste of what they were missing, and lure them into getting married, but also offered an outlet for their sexual urges, considering unmarried women were strictly forbidden to have premarital sex.

“Unmarried women who lost their virginity and got pregnant could only be married off as second wives, and derogatorily referred to as gochokio,”says Njogu.

Some naughty women, he says, were so bold that they even ‘warmed beds’ for their husbands’ visiting friends by sleeping with them!

 Kikuyu clans named after women

“Most helpless, drunk men knew their daring wives fooled around, and even brought home boyfriends.

But all they did was announce their arrival by loudly breaking into song, once they got near the home to alert these men to safely leave through the backdoor,” adds a giggly Njogu.

It’s believed that against this backdrop of matriarchy that Kikuyu women still stand out as ‘tough’, ‘difficult’ and ‘headstrong’ yet hardworking. Strange as it may sound, unlike other Kenyan communities, Kikuyu clans are named after women.

Speculation has it that most homes in Central Kenya are headed by women, even where husbands exist. Chances are that in most Kenyan homes where mothers as breadwinners, the woman is Kikuyu.

“Most Kikuyu women take charge of their homes because husbands take too much alcohol and are lazy or absent.

Ever wondered why Kikuyu women hardly haul men to court over child support? We are hardworking and always move on and fend for our children,” says Mercy Nyambura, a single mother of two in Nairobi.

She tells this writer how she separated from her husband over alcoholism and laziness. She says, “Kikuyu women don’t entertain nonsense from men.

 They fear us because we dislike laziness, which happens to be the nature of most Kenyan men. They want to be babied and pampered even when they are bringing home nothing”.

Nyambura says, Kikuyu women can’t stand abusive marriages. “You will never hear us complain of battery or mistreatment and still stay put. We always pack and leave. Or beat you up and kick you out”.

She says Kikuyu women are raised to be masculine, hard workers, and to take care of their families. As for why they seem to be the only ones who get a lot of criticism, she simply says, rather dismissively: “It‘s chauvinism from men and jealousy from other women.”

Nyambura’s sentiments are echoed by Kate Wairimu, a city resident. She says Kikuyu women work so hard and do anything to feed and educate their children.

“In Nairobi, when you go to a construction site, the women you find doing jobs traditionally assumed to be for men are Kikuyu. All those female makangasand watchwomen you know are Kikuyu. We’re not choosy with work,” she says defensively.

 Know no vulnerability, femininity

Anne Njeri, a city business lady and a single mother, coincidentally raised by a single mum, says she know no vulnerability or femininity because she was nurtured to be masculine. She ‘thinks like a lady but acts like a man’.

“In my endeavour to be tough and masculine, I automatically lost the so-called submissiveness.

Partly, this has turned out to be a curse to me because I can’t get a husband. If a man is to marry me, he has to be extremely hardworking because I am not needy,” says the 34-year-old.

When asked whether Kikuyu women really love, or are all about money, Njeri fumes.

“You know there is a misconception. You are not just going to show love to an irresponsible joker.

Personally, I’d rather remain single or get someone to only pass me sperm than permanently put up with rubbish from a man in name of marriage.

We Kikuyu women truly love but ours is the so-called ‘tough-love‘. We say it like it is. Unfortunately, this is our Achilles heel because most men can‘t stand it.

Most Kenyan women suffer in silence, and pretend things are okay, even when they are oppressed,” Njeri shoots from the hip.

She concludes by saying for some of them to get husbands, when most men are lazy and women are expected to be submissive no matter what, is a bit of a challenge.

 Liz Njambi says, unlike the rest, Kikuyu women are upwardly mobile and very enterprising. “We comprise the biggest number of women who buy property in this city (Nairobi).

Ask around, most landladies are Kikuyus,“ she brags, adding: “We are go-getters and independent. We are the last people to have joint accounts with husbands.

 It’s not good to depend on a man. It’s always good to have your money on the side as a fall back plan, just in case,” giggles Njambi.

That matriarchal elements still exist in the community is no secret. Kikuyus, unlike women from other communities, inherit property such as land and still have a lot of say in naming of children.

 To them, children belong to mothers, and in the event of separation or divorce they take them. Shockingly, some even —get this— pay their own dowry.

 Why men fear marrying them

Apparently, this could be a contributing factor as to why men fear marrying them.

“When you marry a Kikuyu, just know the children are not yours. If the marriage is dissolved, she will go with them.

Which man will easily take such a risk? This makes most men who marry these women feel less obligated. Also Kikuyu woman, unlike others, are so aggressive in perpetuating their dominance.

Even when married to men from other ethnic communities, they ensure their children — who are clueless about their fathers’ language — speak Kikuyu,” says Sam Oluchiri, who tells this writer he dated a couple of Kikuyu women, but couldn’t marry either of them.

Unfortunately, experts warn, this state of affairs has had a great negative impact on how Kikuyu women raise children, especially boys.

Sammy Ndirangu, a social researcher who has worked with two different NGOs in Central Kenya says women empowerment has emboldened women, but unfortunately disenfranchised men, consequently making them less family oriented.

 Most families are dysfunctional

“Most families in the area are dysfunctional, with rampant cases of single motherhood. This, according to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014, partly explains why Central Kenya has the lowest birth and fertility rates nationally, which are on a steady decline.

Most of these women try to teach boys how to be men. Of course, with disastrous results. Boys get a raw deal,” says Ndirangu.

He adds: “In most of those single motherhood homes, girls learn by observation and evolve into their mums; tough as nails and with an inherited distrust for husbands and almost no soft skills needed for partnering with a man in relationship. Boys on the other hand lack role models and become irresponsible.

“Reported cases of grown men in their 30s and 40s still depending on their mothers and sisters for handouts; teenage boys who resort to street life, alcoholism, and crime are common in the area.”

Ndirangu concludes by saying that it is a vicious cycle that only Kikuyu women can fix.

However, it must be noted there are many successful marriages between Kikuyu women with men from both Kikuyu and other communities.

Nasa wants IEBC to postpone polls if system fails on August 8

By Sam Kiplagat: MONDAY JULY 17 2017

An IEBC official registers a voter on February 20, 2016 using the Biometric Voter Registration kit. Nasa wants the IEBC to postpone the August 8 elections if the electronic system fails on polling day. FILE PHOTO | JOHN GITHINJI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• Jubilee claims Nasa is trying to legislate its electoral agenda through the court.
• Nasa moved to court to compel IEBC to exclusively use electronic system to identify voters and transmit results.
• 
  

The National Super Alliance (Nasa) has argued that the electoral body should postpone elections if the electronic system fails on polling day.

Submitting before Justices Kanyi Kimondo, Hedwig Ong’udi and Alfred Mabeya on Monday, Nasa, through lawyer Paul Mwangi, said the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has so far failed to put in place a complementary system as required by law.

And in case the electronic system fails on August 8, Section 55(b) of the amended Elections Act allows the IEBC to postpone the elections until a complementary system is put in place. The Act mentions postponement of elections in a constituency, county or ward. 

COMPROMISED

Mr Mwangi, along with James Orengo and Ben Sihanya, argued that previous elections have been compromised by failure of technology. 

As a response, he said, Parliament mandated the IEBC to come up with a complimentary system, but not a manual system.

He said the IEBC has not consulted relevant stakeholders or even engaged the public with a view to coming up with the complementary system. 

The lawyer said the court can force the agency to comply with a statutory provision, when it fails to do so.

But Jubilee, through lawyers Ahmednasir Abdullahi and Tom Macharia, said Nasa is hell-bent on suppressing the wishes of voters.

Mr Macharia said the failure of Biometric Voter Registration systems and Electronic Voter Identification systems should not be a basis of disenfranchising eligible voters. 

BACK DOOR

Mr Abdullahi said the Nasa petition is meant to declare Section 44(a) of the Elections Act illegal and in effect, legislate through the back door.

He said Mr Orengo, also the Siaya senator, unsuccessfully tried to block Parliament during the debate to amend the election laws in December.

“After failing to stop the process in December. They have now brought a petition raising the same issues. He cannot be allowed to have a second bite of the cherry,” he said. 

The IEBC, through lawyer PLO Lumumba, said the commission has adopted regulations to cater for both identification of voters and transmission of results in case the system fails. 

He further said that there was public participation in the process of coming up with the regulations and Nasa is misleading the court by stating the opposite. 

In a sworn statement, Jubilee Director of Legal Affairs Mary Karen Sorobit says Nasa is trying to legislate its electoral agenda through the court.

UNRELIABLE

“The insistence on using electronic transmission as the only mode of transmission or identifying voters will thus be setting up the country on the reliance of an unreliable, insecure mode of transmission of results,” Ms Sorobit states.

Nasa moved to court to compel the IEBC to exclusively use electronic systems to identify voters and transmit results during the August 8 General Election.

In the petition, the opposition argues that the IEBC is time-barred to come up with regulations establishing a complementary mechanism for the elections as required by law. 

It argues that Section 109 of the Elections Act (2011) requires that the mechanism and regulations be put in place with the approval of Parliament at least 60 days before the General Election.

The Judges will issue their decision on July 21.