Nicholas Biwott: Why Has He Prospered Under The Kibaki Administration?

One truth that has clearly emerged during the Kibaki presidency is that Hon Nicholas Biwott, the most powerful cabinet minister in the Moi days and in fact a cousin to the former head of state is a very wily operator.

Many Kenyans had already written the Keiyo South MP's political and business obituary the day Narc and president Kibaki dramatically swept into power on that memorable December day in 2002. Instead Biwott has not only survived politically and stayed out of prison, but his empire has expanded and prospered even more than t did in the Moi days.

Insiders now reveal that Biwott started talking to the Narc government before the actual general elections when it looked clear that the coalition was headed for victory. But his campaign for favor did not end there. Observant Kenyans will remember that in the early days of the Narc administration, Biwott stuck to then Minister in charge of Internal security Chris Murungaru like a leech. Reviewing TV clips of Murungaru, Biwott was constantly close to the powerful minister in the Kibaki administration. And whatever deals he was so eager to strike, he must have succeeded because as you read this Biwott's flagship Kenol/Kobil companies have won lucrative government contracts including the most recent one worth billions of shillings to supply fuel to all Kengen electricity generating plants in the country.

It is now clear why Biwott was once referred to by Moi as his Kirigit. In the Turgen language this means the bull that leads the other cows home. It is also clear why Biwott was so successful as the main brains behind the Moi administration.

Interestingly insiders further whisper that one of the first things Biwott did to win favor was to pay all back taxes and effectively cleared his name from the black list at KRA, literally overnight. Considering the fact that Biwott was a sacred cow during the entire 24 years of the Moi administration, he must have paid the equivalent of the American national debt in taxes to the KRA. Little wonder that his flagship Kenol/Kobil group has consistently won KRA awards for being amongst the highest tax remitters in the republic ever since the award was introduced early in the Kibaki administration.

Biwott has gone on to make some smart moves to insulate himself against possible future purges against him and his vast business empire built and established through corruption and the looting of public coffers. For instance Kenol/Kobil is now in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and most recently Ethiopia. So even if somebody were the freeze Biwott's assets in Kenya, it will be easy for him to survive by continuing to operate his interests outside the country.

Kenyans will remember that there was even talk at one point of Biwott joining the Kibaki cabinet of national unity. He ended up missing that by a whisker. Thanks mainly to a handful of Kenyans who refused to forgive and forget the past.

So as Kenyans prepare to vote later this year, the big question they should ask themselves is why the hell they should expect changes when people like Nicholas Biwott are still so influential and powerful in the country. Let's stop being naïve and face up to the fact that by re-electing the current government and the Narc-Kenya outfit back to power, we will by extension be voting for Nicholas Biwott to retain his power and influence. Count me out of such a move.

No Kenyan in the history of the nation has been linked to so many un-solved murders. Top on the list is the still un-solved brutal murder of the best foreign minister Kenyan ever had, the late Dr Robert John Ouko. No Kenyan in the history of Kenya has been linked to so many scandals and dirty deals. The tentacles of Biwott are said to spread into drugs. At one point he was even linked to a lucrative prostitution ring at the Coast that served mainly American sailors.

It got so bad that at one point Biwott protested jokingly (by the way does the man ever laugh?) that even when couples have domestic squabbles in the privacy of their bedrooms, they somehow manage to pin the blame on Biwott.

But on a more serious note, this kind of image amongst Kenyans is not without reason. Other presidents have had their powerful ministers who have inevitably been linked to all sorts of evils. But Biwott has easily made the likes of Mbiyu Koinange (from the Kenyatta days) and Chris Murungaru (from the early Kibaki administration) look like Mother Teresa in comparison. A vote for President Kibaki will be a resounding vote for Nicholas Biwott this December. Don't forget that.

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