Kenya's top leaders once paid rent in Eastlands estates

Some of the city council houses in Kaloleni and Maringo estates.(Photo: File/Standard)

Retired President Daniel arap Moi, Opposition leader Raila Odinga, the late Tom Mboya, Governor Evans Kidero and former MP Peter Kenneth were once all tenants of the City Council of Nairobi.

Mr Moi lived in a one-roomed house in Ziwani estate while Raila called Jerusalem home.

Dr Kidero was born and bred in Majengo. The eldest in the extended family of seven, Kidero and his siblings would scramble for whatever little their policeman father provided for them.

Other notable personalities that rose out of the humble abodes in Eastlands include the late politician and tycoon Gerishon Kirima, the late Ugandan President Milton Obote, Fred Gumo and political scientist Mutahi Ngunyi.

Posh locations

This was long before the whole crowd migrated to posh locations like Karen, Lavington, Kitisuru and Muthaiga.

City Hall-owned estates like Kaloleni (popularly known as Ololo), Makongeni (Okongo), Mbotela, Ofafa Jericho, Jerusalem, Majengo and Ziwani were all they could afford.

It is in these estates that political flames were lit and extinguished, and national dreams were captured and lost.

Kaloleni Public Bar, now Wood Park was known for the best 'busaa' while Majengo - one of the oldest slums in Nairobi - was famous for 'cheap' prostitutes.

Recent media reports indicate that prostitution in Majengo is still a reality and so common that the players don't bother to hide it.

But looking at the estates today, with their burst sewers, rotting diapers in ditches, stagnant pools and mountains of garbage, it's hard to imagine they were once home to the country's finest.

Kaloleni and Mbotela social halls were mainly where the young politicians convened to plan social or political events.

Ken Okaka, a resident, said occasionally, the late Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya and former Prime Minister of Uganda Dr Obote would convene at Kaloleni Social Hall to plan a major political revolution.

At the time, Mboya and Obote actually lived in Kaloleni. Mboya's two-roomed apartment in block Z1 near City Stadium still stands.

Opposition leader Raila was bred in Jerusalem, where he acquired the name 'Agwambo', meaning 'mystery' or 'the unpredictable'.

He was named Agwambo by Grace Akumu, widow of former Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary General Denis Akumu, in the 1980s.

Very close

Ms Akumu said her family and the Odingas, headed by Kenya's first vice president Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, were very close when Jaramogi joined the Opposition as they lived close by in Jericho estate.

Unlike Kaloleni, which was highly cosmopolitan but with many residents from western Kenya, Bahati was predominantly Kikuyu.

This is where Nairobi governor aspirant Peter Kenneth, commonly known as PK, was born in the 1960s.

Kenneth lived with his mother in a single-roomed house and attended Bahati Uhuru Primary School and later Starehe Boys' Centre and School for his O' and A' levels.

He remember his youthful days watching inter-estate soccer matches and growing up with current Cotu boss Francis Atwoli, who was a bit older than him.

Governor Kidero has, on more than one occasion, attributed his inspiration to run for the Nairobi governor position to the fact that he came from a humble background.

He has described his main driving force as "the excellent systems and services that were available to me growing up in Nairobi but that are no longer available to the people of Nairobi".

Today, the residents of these estates are left with only the memories.

Steve Ochieng remembers "Orenge za Hall na supu yake" (cow legs and soup) that were sold at the Kaloleni Social Hall) and soccer legends like George White, Papa Goalie, Mark Obibo, Joseph Weke, Father Okoyo Paplaga, Katele and Joseph Adach.

Street lights

Publisher and political commentator Barrack Muluka, who grew up in Ofafa Jericho, says Nairobi is nothing compared to what it was when he was growing up.

"There were functional street lights, taps running with clean water, huge playgrounds and tarmacked paths up to our doorsteps. And garbage was collected often," says Mr Muluka.

He recalls how clean and tidy the estates were, with the county government regularly providing residents with dustbins.

The houses were painted and had well-tended compounds, and the county council would occasionally spray for pests.