By Titus Too

When she escorted retired President Moi to his helicopter after the 2002 peaceful transition period with tears streaming down her face, it looked like all was over for her.

Dr Sally Kosgei had left the crowded and rowdy scenes at Uhuru Park without one shoe. And without Moi in the picture, it seemed like she would limp for most of her days ahead. Many thought her career had certainly come to an end. But she bounced back sooner than expected and with a bang.

Dr Sally Kosgei during her days as civil service chief in Moi regime. [PHOTO: FILE]

For a career civil servant who had served a regime that had become unpopular overnight, her comeback was unexpected. In fact, moments after President Kibaki took over power, Kosgei was dismissed rather casually and paid a paltry Sh500,000 as send off in an envelope delivered by a Government messenger.

The action was not surprising, considering that she was the very figurehead of the man the Narc Government so loathed. Kosgei had previously served in various senior positions in Moi’s administration after her first appointment as deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe in the mid 1980s.

Surprise come back

She was later named High Commissioner to London, replacing long serving Bethwel Kiplagat.

It is during her tenure in London that the countries improved bilateral relations and business opportunities.

She was later recalled after serving more than ten years and was named permanent secretary at the Treasury and to her final senior post in the Government, head of civil service and secretary to the Cabinet.

The Stanford University alumni and former student of Alliance Girls High School was later to make her surprise comeback to national limelight, thanks to irreconcilable differences between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

She joined the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and easily secured Aldai parliamentary seat in 2007. She would later put her diplomatic skills to work when she played a major role in the so-called Serena Talks leading to the formation of the Grand Coalition Government between ODM and the PNU.

"We had no idea what size of shoes she was capable of wearing," observes Mr Michael Korir, a constituent of Aldai. Indeed, Korir’s observations appear to explain why Kosgei was not particularly bothered about the loss of her shoe at Uhuru Park during Kibaki’s 2002 swearing in ceremony. She was destined for a bigger pair, anyway.