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I left sukumawiki business, where I made Sh50,000, for a Sh7,000 per month office job

County_Nairobi
 Former Information PS Bitange Ndemo

Former Information PS Bitange Ndemo has been out of the limelight for a while. He spoke to MWAURA SAMORA on why he sold french beans after studies in the US, erecting a ‘regrettable’ house in Kisii, and why Uhuru is lucky

You schooled in the United States. Is it true you came back so broke that you sold vegetables to survive? I came back from US in the early 1990s after studying management of technology — it was unheard of here at the time. I couldn’t land a job.

My wife was pregnant and I needed money. I would go to Kabati in Murang’a to get French beans which I would sell. A few friends went to my rural home and told my mother that his son was not in US but was busy selling vegetables in Muranga’.

They were mad at me for allegedly embarassing them. I had to do a lot of explaining. I had to trade the vegetable business, where I made Sh50,000, for a Sh7,000 per month job at the University of Nairobi — just to inform my kinsmen that I actually went to school.

You have a huge house in your rural home which according to you is inhabited by rats. Our cultural practices demanded that I put up a house in Kisii before I could built anything in Nairobi. So I ended up using so much resources putting it up while I was still renting in Nairobi.

But that was a waste of resources. It should have been the other way round but I was responding to allegations that ata wakisoma wako na nyumba nyumbani? I really regret (the decision).

Were you disappointed when jubilee falied to appoint you as CS given your track record in the Ministry of Information?

For sure I felt there was some unfinished tasks I wanted to fix. But in retrospect I think it’s a good I didn’t go back given I can look at things from outside. Sometimes it’s important to step aside because staying in one place for long tends to make people arrogant and taking things for granted.

Having worked under former president Mwai Kibaki, what would you say is the difference between him and president Uhuru Kenyatta? I don’t want to compare the two. But the type of leadership we had under Mwai Kibaki decentralised decision-making. Ministers and PSs would make decisions depending on the needs in their ministries. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his administration is very lucky because they have Kibaki’s record from which they can see the benefits of delegating decision-making. They are in best position to change things having learnt from Kibaki’s style.

You worked with the late John Michuki in the KIbaki government. What do you think his work ethics would have added to our war against terror?

I learnt so much from the late John Michuki, who was my very good friend. He would call me to his office and then say “Ndemo!” and then go “mmmm...” for almost two minutes. At that time I would be shaking wondering what he would say next. He was a different person and if we had him for several more years a lot would have happened.

We saw what he did in the transport sector in a short while and the war against outlawed gangs. One thing I learned about him is that he wouldn’t make decisions without consulting widely.

Which is that one thing that you look back and you feel proud that you initiated during your time in government?

The most memorable project that I still look at and feel proud is bringing the optic fiber all the way from al-Fujaira in UAE. Many in government could visualise the importance of transporting a cable under the sea for 5,000 kilometers under water.

I spent many nights with the anti-corruption team and other officials trying to explain that it will lower the calling costs and lessen the cost of Internet and broadband connectivity. Many wondered how a pipe under the water can lower calling costs. But now that they are seeing the benefits I have been vindicated.

One thing you would change if you were given an opportunity to be in government today? I would avail information about government spending and other things that people would like to know. This way fighting corruption becomes easier and even journalists will write facts rather than speculations.

So what do you do these days? Right now I am in the University of Nairobi where I am in the innovation committee, through which we are doing a lot to position this university in the global innovation map. Organising the Nairobi Innovation Week 2015 is just one of them.

Do you have any political ambitions?

Politics is very complex. I don’t have a lot of patience around politics. In 2013 many people were pressurizing me to vie as governor for Kisii and I said no. With the governor’s salary I don’t think I can solve all the peoples’ problems and still do my own things.

People will be flooding your office with school fee issues, medical bills and many others all of which are deserving cases. I don’t think I will do much with the Sh600,000 governors salary. But I would do it for Sh2 million a month pay.

Land is a big issue in Gusii land. What, according to you, is the way forward? I have written and spoken about the issue and many have agreed with me. We need strong leadership to change the current destructive cultural practices of subdividing lands into tiny units. Land is a finite resource and we should do like Europe, which urbanized to save farm land.

Do you think the ongoing digitisation of government services can help in the fight against corruption? Yes. In fact, it will be easy to tracemovement of payments and transactions and who initiated them.

What is your take on the laptops for school project? The project is perfectly in order because given the way the world is migrating towards digitising everything. This way they our children will become digital gurus in their teens and early 20s...

Most teachers are scared of this programme because they know they will become redundant. World Bank statistics indicates that 60 permanent of teachers in Kenya cannot pass an exam in the subjects they teach.

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