Post by KDP on Aug 12, 2006 21:53:36 GMT 3
Paul Ngei Was A Classically Corrupt Politician
A PUBLICLY FUNDED MONUMENT TO CORRUPTION?
The late Paul Ngei Mausoleum that was officially
opened by the Minister of State in the Office of
the President Mr Suleiman Sakombo
Paul Joseph Ngei was one of the six leaders known to Kenyans in the Fifties as the "Magnificent Six", who were arrested in 1952 and imprisoned by the British for their leadership of, and role in the Mau Mau revolt.
He was a notably colourful, tough and - in the many government ministries he occupied - classically corrupt Kenyan politician. He used to boast that he had 30 Savile Row suits, several wives and a mistress in every capital city he had ever visited.
In 1971, at the height of his powers as a member of President Jomo Kenyatta’s ruthless KANU government, Ngei went to a car showroom and failed to return a Mercedes he took for a test drive. The company decided it was best not to invoice him, and the car was still parked at his home when he died more than 30 years later.
Kenyan newspapers that never dared report the spectacular corruption of the Kenyatta era for fear of their lives have been recalling how Ngei would raise a storm if ever waiters in Nairobi’s leading hotels asked him to settle drinks and meal bills for himself and his friends. He would dress down the waiters and tell them to send the bills to President Kenyatta. Cowed and shaken, the waiters would hurriedly take the bills away and the hotel absorbed the costs because no-one dared ask State House to pay.
Ngei served for 27 years as a minister in charge of marketing, housing, social services, environment and lands and settlement in both Kenyatta’s and the former president Daniel arap Moi’s administrations.
Kenyatta looked after his fellow freedom-fighters and detainees carefully. After being found guilty by the courts of election fraud, Ngei called on Kenyatta for help, arguing that he had been convicted under "archaic" and "oppressive" colonial laws. The president summoned the attorney general, Charles Njonjo, and asked: "Is this law barring Ngei from contesting for years in the books?" Told that it was, he ordered Njonjo: "Go make a law that will give me the power to pardon Ngei." A few days later, legislation giving the president powers to pardon election offenders went through parliament. Ngei was pardoned and he went ahead to contest and win a subsequent by- election in his home constituency of Kangundo.
With the exception of Bildad Kaggia, the "Magnificent Six" became immensely rich. Once, when he was minister of lands, Ngei called on his old friend, living in a Nairobi slum, and told him to "help yourself" to a pineapple farm owned by the Del Monte company. Ngei publicly told Kaggia: "Why do you live in poverty when you fought for freedom in this country? Today I give you permission to get into this farm here (the Del Monte estate). Allocate yourself as many acres as you want. If anybody asks you a question, tell them to go and see Ngei at Ardhi House. I will sort them out for you."
Kaggia has continued to live in dire poverty, leading the acclaimed radical Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o to comment: "It is as if independence for Kenya had meant a chance for individual accumulation of wealth. If you did not grab property like Kaggia, then you were lazy."
Ngei accumulated a handsome Nairobi property, a 3,000-hectare ranch and an Indian Ocean property at Malindi. He was a notorious womaniser, and when he was subpoenaed to give evidence in the trial of a cabinet minister’s daughter who was murdered after he had spent the evening with her, he told the trial judge who asked him to explain the reason: "That is a silly question. You should not ask a man why he was in the company of a beautiful woman. Every normal man likes a nice-looking woman around."
Ngei squandered his wealth in high living, but hedged a good chunk of it in the Paul Ngei Trust Fund which was administered by his lawyer Mutula Kilonzo, Beth Mugo as deputy and his wife Flora as Tresurer.
Mr. Ngei excluded from parliament in 1991 when he filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was discharged in 1997 because he had a lot of property. He later lost his KSh 150 million Garden Estate property in Nairobi for failing to repay a KSh700,070 loan he obtained from Continental Finance Company, using the estate as security.
He spent the sunset of his tumultuous life in a wheelchair after his legs were amputated because of diabetes. The legs were preserved at MP Shah Hospital and Mater Hospital, and were reunited and buried with him at after his death. His burial has been delayed as a result of cases brought against his family by women who are demanding the return of large sums of money they collected for charity and had entrusted to him, that he later embezzled.
Paul Joseph Ngei died on the 15th August 2004 and his body rests buried at his country home in Mbilini and his 27 years constituency of Kangundo. He was given a guality funeral befitting a King, a mausoleum has been build by the Kenya government in his honour.
A PUBLICLY FUNDED MONUMENT TO CORRUPTION?
The late Paul Ngei Mausoleum that was officially
opened by the Minister of State in the Office of
the President Mr Suleiman Sakombo
Paul Joseph Ngei was one of the six leaders known to Kenyans in the Fifties as the "Magnificent Six", who were arrested in 1952 and imprisoned by the British for their leadership of, and role in the Mau Mau revolt.
He was a notably colourful, tough and - in the many government ministries he occupied - classically corrupt Kenyan politician. He used to boast that he had 30 Savile Row suits, several wives and a mistress in every capital city he had ever visited.
In 1971, at the height of his powers as a member of President Jomo Kenyatta’s ruthless KANU government, Ngei went to a car showroom and failed to return a Mercedes he took for a test drive. The company decided it was best not to invoice him, and the car was still parked at his home when he died more than 30 years later.
Kenyan newspapers that never dared report the spectacular corruption of the Kenyatta era for fear of their lives have been recalling how Ngei would raise a storm if ever waiters in Nairobi’s leading hotels asked him to settle drinks and meal bills for himself and his friends. He would dress down the waiters and tell them to send the bills to President Kenyatta. Cowed and shaken, the waiters would hurriedly take the bills away and the hotel absorbed the costs because no-one dared ask State House to pay.
Ngei served for 27 years as a minister in charge of marketing, housing, social services, environment and lands and settlement in both Kenyatta’s and the former president Daniel arap Moi’s administrations.
Kenyatta looked after his fellow freedom-fighters and detainees carefully. After being found guilty by the courts of election fraud, Ngei called on Kenyatta for help, arguing that he had been convicted under "archaic" and "oppressive" colonial laws. The president summoned the attorney general, Charles Njonjo, and asked: "Is this law barring Ngei from contesting for years in the books?" Told that it was, he ordered Njonjo: "Go make a law that will give me the power to pardon Ngei." A few days later, legislation giving the president powers to pardon election offenders went through parliament. Ngei was pardoned and he went ahead to contest and win a subsequent by- election in his home constituency of Kangundo.
With the exception of Bildad Kaggia, the "Magnificent Six" became immensely rich. Once, when he was minister of lands, Ngei called on his old friend, living in a Nairobi slum, and told him to "help yourself" to a pineapple farm owned by the Del Monte company. Ngei publicly told Kaggia: "Why do you live in poverty when you fought for freedom in this country? Today I give you permission to get into this farm here (the Del Monte estate). Allocate yourself as many acres as you want. If anybody asks you a question, tell them to go and see Ngei at Ardhi House. I will sort them out for you."
Kaggia has continued to live in dire poverty, leading the acclaimed radical Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o to comment: "It is as if independence for Kenya had meant a chance for individual accumulation of wealth. If you did not grab property like Kaggia, then you were lazy."
Ngei accumulated a handsome Nairobi property, a 3,000-hectare ranch and an Indian Ocean property at Malindi. He was a notorious womaniser, and when he was subpoenaed to give evidence in the trial of a cabinet minister’s daughter who was murdered after he had spent the evening with her, he told the trial judge who asked him to explain the reason: "That is a silly question. You should not ask a man why he was in the company of a beautiful woman. Every normal man likes a nice-looking woman around."
Ngei squandered his wealth in high living, but hedged a good chunk of it in the Paul Ngei Trust Fund which was administered by his lawyer Mutula Kilonzo, Beth Mugo as deputy and his wife Flora as Tresurer.
Mr. Ngei excluded from parliament in 1991 when he filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was discharged in 1997 because he had a lot of property. He later lost his KSh 150 million Garden Estate property in Nairobi for failing to repay a KSh700,070 loan he obtained from Continental Finance Company, using the estate as security.
He spent the sunset of his tumultuous life in a wheelchair after his legs were amputated because of diabetes. The legs were preserved at MP Shah Hospital and Mater Hospital, and were reunited and buried with him at after his death. His burial has been delayed as a result of cases brought against his family by women who are demanding the return of large sums of money they collected for charity and had entrusted to him, that he later embezzled.
Paul Joseph Ngei died on the 15th August 2004 and his body rests buried at his country home in Mbilini and his 27 years constituency of Kangundo. He was given a guality funeral befitting a King, a mausoleum has been build by the Kenya government in his honour.