How Respected But Corrupt Kenyans Made Their Stinking Wealth

The following incident a few years ago caused me to despair like I never have before.

It was the time that, after a number of years away from the rugby scene, I made a come-back. One day we were out of town for a rugby tournament and the youngest member of the team, a son of a long-time and well-known corrupt Permanent Secretary in government (later long-serving MP) was asked what he intended to be when he finished school. His reply came swiftly and without hesitation. He said he wanted to be a PS. Everybody at the table understood immediately that what he really meant was that he wanted to be a “corrupt PS” when he finished school, just like his dad.

I despaired because this was a clear demonstration that role models we have given to our youth and children will ensure that corruption and ill-gotten wealth will remain with us for many years to come. You just have to look at how the young people of Kenya have been divided along tribal lines after the 2007 elections to realize that they have been good students to everything terribly wrong that the older folk have been doing for decades which has brought the republic to its’ knees today, sagging under a very heavy weight of seemingly unsolvable problems.

The reality is that Kenyans hold in high esteem anybody who is wealthy and it really doesn’t matter how they made their money.

To make matters worse, virtually all the wealthy and highly respected folks we have in Kenya today all made their money through dubious means. Let us start with the so-called “older money.” Take just one example from that fold.

Respected Nairobi businessman who holds directorships in dozens of multi-nationals and local companies, Chris Kirubi, made his money transporting smuggled coffee using his employer’s trucks. Kirubi was a mere manager at Kenatco (Kenya National Transport Company) in the 70s, a once prosperous parastatal. Kirubi’s big break came when he was able to identify with a member of Kenyatta’s powerful kitchen cabinet. Kirubi’s record with public companies speaks for itself. Shortly after he was appointed chairman of Uchumi Supermarkets, the once prosperous supermarket chain came crashing down in circumstances that resemble what happened to Kenatco in the 70s when he was an influential manager.

There are some fantastic rags to riches tales from the heady coffee boom days. An assistant manager (name with-held) of a prominent branch of Barclays Bank in Mombasa who hails from Central province is said to have “borrowed” money from the bank’s strong room to buy a huge consignment of coffee from Uganda. He took the money on Friday knowing that the strong-room would be kept closed throughout the whole weekend. But the consignment was delayed and people were chasing him all over the place for the keys to the strong-room moments before the bank was due to open for business on Monday morning. Despite suspicions, when the cash was finally counted, everything was found to be in order and it was difficult to pin anything on the man. But he had done his deal. Apparently the consignment arrived in the nick of time and he managed to return the cash before anybody discovered that it was missing. This individual never looked back and is today one of the wealthiest Kenyans (in the old money group).

There are dozens of other wealthy Kenyans who made their money in the 70s using their positions to “borrow” huge amounts of cash. Stanley Githinguri was a National bank branch manager in Mombasa. He not only “borrowed” money to purchase beach plots but using his contacts at State House, Nairobi he rose through the ranks at lightning speed to head the entire bank and that was when he gave himself the “mother of all loans.” A whooping Kshs 300 million. A crazy, crazy, crazy fortune in those days. Interestingly he is one of the few people at the time whose investment of dubious funds did not go too well. Still it was a lot of money to miss completely even if one made mistakes and a few of his investments finally worked out. He is today a fairly wealthy individual, a Member of Parliament and busy preaching against corruption. By the way the loan from the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) was NEVER repaid and is one of the reasons why the government ended up bailing out the Bank when it was on the brink of collapse in the 90s. Simoen Nyachae was the Finance Minister then.

A few other crafty Kenyans used their tribal accents to commit serious crimes and get away with it to date, emerging as very wealthy individuals. All they would do was to approach a business or land owner after doing a little research. They would introduce themselves and say that they are from State House Mombasa (where President Kenyatta used to spend a lot of time) and that they had instructions to take over the said business or piece of land and compensation would be worked out later. Now there was no way for the hapless person to verify how true what he was being told was. Surely he couldn’t pick up the phone and call President Kenyatta to ask him if it was true he wanted their precious beach plot. In fact in those days people were terrified of the government and those close to the president. You just needed to mention his name and most people would promptly start urinating on themselves. And with good reason. There were many terrifying tales of what happened to those who dared to defy those close to the president. Many ended up being found dead with their private parts cut out and stuffed in their mouths. Others just disappeared never to be seen again.

If you are in Mombasa just do a little research and find out who owns most of those beach plots. The list reads like a who-is-who from Central province and most were acquired by grabbing and mentioning the name of President Kenyatta.

For those who don’t know, it is very easy to convert property you own into cash, especially in Mombasa in those days when people were scrambling to build hotels on the beach front.

It is also true that the Kenyatta family owns a substantial amount of property at the Coast which was also acquired in more or less the same way. It includes numerous buildings as well as numerous valuable properties on the beach. There is in fact a property management company owned by the Kenyatta family that has a very busy office at the Coastal city. I was shocked to discover that only one client keeps them so busy, the same client who owns the property company.

Another well known family with substantial property at the Coast is the Kibaki family.

Next Post in this Weekend series: The junior policeman who made himself a fortune from his criminal contacts. Today he is a well-known nice guy

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I have painstakingly prepared a special report titled; How the 5 richest Kenyans made their dirty money overnight. To be honest the contents of this report made me cry tears. The safest way for you to read such explosive information is in your email. Get it FREE as well as regular Updates and other hot Kumekucha special reports by sending me a blank Email right away
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