Is It Fair On Kenyans For Close Relatives To Control Two Powerful Cabinet Posts? | Kenya cabinet President Kibaki

Can't find something you are looking for? Visit our archives

The Ministry that takes care of internal security is pretty powerful. So powerful that one time PS in charge of Internal security, the late Hezekiah Oyugi was dreaded by even cabinet ministers, people who are supposed to be his bosses. It is even whispered that one or two knelt down before him (people don't even kneel before the queen).

So how did the late Oyugi get so powerful? The story goes that during the coup that was to later fail in 1982 as Moi sat down terrified in his Kabarak farm waiting for the inevitable firing squad that he was sure was coming from the coup perpetrators, Oyugi happened to be there. It is not clear how. Some people say he heard of the coup and rushed there to be at Mzee's side.
=====================================
Also published in Kumekucha Daily Today

Major changes at Kumekucha; we will also now publish on Saturday and Sunday

Cheating Spouses: Why illicit affairs are on the increase

How Arsenal Match caused Marsabit tragedy

Michuki's blunders on Mt Elgon crisis

Quip for the day;
Many readers have openly displayed their ignorance in their critical comments in this blog. I will forever be grateful to the large army of very intelligent Kenyans who read this blog regularly and never lose an opportunity to expose ignorance when they see it. Bravo!!
=====================================
In that time of great uncertainty, the late Oyugi is said to have told the president; "Nitakufa na wewe mzee." In English that is to say; "I will die with you, mzee." Thus when the coup was crushed and Moi lived to die another day, the man he trusted most was Oyugi. He trusted him so much that he used him to lure Ouko to his death. It is ironical that what cost Dr Robert Ouko his life was the belief that your own tribes mate cannot betray you. But betrayal knows no tribal boundaries or even sentimental boundaries. The same Oyugi was betrayed by Moi and died under mysterious circumstances and even in death, Moi told his biographer Morton that Oyugi was responsible for Ouko's murder because the two were competing for supremacy in Luo politics. Some tale, that. Pure hogwash of course.

Keen political observers know what hit Oyugi. This man Nick Biwott was not the type to share power and influence with anybody and so it was just a matter of time. And Oyugi with all the wealth and power he amassed was so drunk with it all that he never saw what hit him, coming. He was sure that the Kabarak declaration guaranteed his safety till kingdom come.

Useful lesson there in human nature and politics, huh? But let us get back to our topic today.

The Ministry of Communications headed by homeboy Mutahi Kagwe is a very powerful ministry indeed. Next to security, communication is the thing to worry about because whoever controls it, has the power to impact security. In 1982 one of the first places that the coup perpetrators took control of was the KBC TV and radio station on Harry Thuku Road in Nairobi.

It is no accident that the two dockets ended up in the hands of two persons President Kibaki can trust.

But there is a big problem here.

Mutahi Kagwe and John Michuki are very close relatives. Mutahi Kagwe is married to John Michuki's daughter, a move I am sure the minister who makes it possible for you to read this blog—if you are in Kenya, has never regretted. Once when Kagwe's fledging media house run into serious financial problems and the auctioneer's hammer was due to fall on the couple's palatial home in Karen, "Dad" came to the rescue of a sweating Mutahi Kagwe. You see "Dad" is stinking rich, with an emphasis on the stinking because most of his money was made giving himself loans to buy prime property in Nairobi when he was the Executive chairman at Kenya Commercial Bank during the Kenyatta days. Some of the property he even organized to rent to the KCB. Heard of a building called Kipande house opposite the GPO on Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi?

Could this be the reason why grandpa Michuki is still in politics, when he should be resting somewhere in Kangema reminiscing over a long career and seeking to appease the ghosts of pre-independence Kenya that haunt him because he was used by the colonial government to undertake human rights atrocities against his own countrymen.

In a country of almost 30 million (and in a parliament of 210 members), these two close relatives were the only people qualified to run their respective ministries. Admittedly Kagwe has done an excellent job at his docket. But that is besides the point because there are bound to be clashes of interest and other dangers. What would mzee Michuki do for instance if he received a dossier from the intelligence that his son in law was importing guns into the country for unclear reasons? Would he rush to arrest him? Or would he hesitate long enough for his son in laws plot to come to fruition?

President John F. Kennedy needed somebody he could trust as AG mainly to deal with his arch rival and enemy, FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover who had plenty of dossiers on him and his extra curricular activities with many a pretty ankle. He got away with that controversial appointment partly due to the charisma the man was born with which he could turn on like a tap and dramatically alter the direction of a press conference that would have otherwise crucified him.

But what do Kenyans say about two close relatives running such key ministries? Please lets' keep tribalism out of this one, we are talking about nepotism here.

Related articles on Mutahi Kagwe

Mutahi Kagwe joing cabinat as smoke bellows from State House

Has Mutahi Kagwe replaced Murungaru as the man with the president's ears, closest?

Woman Murders Her Best Friend To Steal Her Husband As Science Proves That It Is Deadly For Women To Have Casual Sex