Declaration: I knew Biwott through my Dad. They remained friends until my dad passed away. He would come in one car. No security except one guy and a driver. Then they would sit and talk and laugh. They knew each other when my father worked huko kwao many years before and Biwott was a young man or so.
That is why I have not said much against the man - for those who can recall. I asked my dad if he he ever asked about who killed Ouko and he said yes, Nicholas did not kill Ouko. Whether Moi did. He said the same: No!
For me I have always believed it was Oyugi and Timothy Maloba. But that is a story for another day. I found him very polite and loyal to his friends. All that security hullabaloo I read about is very strange to me.
Later after my Dad died he came unannounced to visit the grave the day I was leaving for work so I excused myself.
Biwott came alone sat and was served tea - which he drunk without hesitation or worries. He condoled my mum and left some cash behind and went.
I met him in the lands ministry one time and I thought he wouldn't remember me. I was wrong. Not only did he remember me but he asked about my wife and kid by name! ( wondered, I had just been married two years). He Wondered what I was doing abroad instead of coming to work for Kenya or "me".
So on a human level I think he was a good man (and I am not a lion).
But I knew he had brought down a whole bank just because the MD of the bank bothered him. He also had some power over Moi that nobody understood. In 2002 he put down his foot about appointing Mudavadi VP saying its not yet time. He wanted it a month to elections and he got it. He did tell Moi Uhuru would lose but when Moi told him to mind his business and campaign, he fell in line and never questioned. His loyalty to Moi was 100% and unquestioning.
He was a gifted political analyst with contacts around the country. Armed with a photographic memory, he could call some obscure person in North Eastern or approach a politician and after a few minutes get him to work for and with KANU. I think he decimated the opposition by targeted bribes. I wondered about that and realized he had a simple approach: Showed great respect for the person. Thus if he was bribing someone to sell his principles, he would do it in a way that the person did not feel like a prostitute receiving her dues. He just had a way with people. I think before he approached someone he learned about the person. May be he did beforehand knowing he would need that person in future.
When he softened Makau of SDP to drop his bid, however, Makau broke the agreement by announcing it. He would not see the 200K promised until he had been humiliated.
Yes stories of him changing cars mid-lane in Nairobi abound. I think there are far too many stories around this man - most untrue.
When Mao's wife was charged in China for her role in the cultural revolution, she made some startling statements in her own defence. She got so exasperated at one time and said: "I was Mao's dog. I did everything he commanded me to. If he said that person must die, I arranged it. If he said that politican must fall, he fell by my hand..." (Dont have the exact quote but one can google).
I am saying Biwott simply did whatever Moi wanted. Even more we can say he did what he thought Moi wanted. Here is what Bertolt Brecht wrote about the loyalty of a private to his senior officer:
He lets himself be torn to bits for his superior officer, and as he lies dying he takes note that his corporal is nodding approval, and that is reward enough for him. That's all he wants 
Topic: Pundit On Biwot empire (Read 6465 times)