On the day Rashid Echesa (pictured) was appointed to Cabinet, he told the Sunday Standard that he was representing a rare breed of the Kenyan society - the uneducated.

At 35, and with little formal education, Echesa had bypassed PhD holders and landed himself a CS for Sports, Culture and Heritage appointment.

“We are an ignored constituency, yet people who are not very educated form a big chunk of this country’s population,” he said.

When he spoke of what he planned for his ministry, he anchored it on his experience as a boxer. He said he understood what ailed sports in the country, and it did not need a doctorate degree to heal the ministry that had been defined by controversies before he took over.

“I am all about determination and focus. Let them watch me and see,” he said, assuring Kenyans that he is all they needed to straighten the mess at the ministry.

It did not take long for things to crumble. Accusations started flying all over. The national amputees’ football team saga, the sports fund murmurs, the politics. The narrative of the poor man who had started out as a casual labourer at Mumias Sugar Company began to change.

Soon, Echesa was letting off steam in public, taking on people who had mentored him, like former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“With all due respect, I am not your equal. The President was not stupid to appoint me. He knew the country had professors but I was still appointed. Raila, give me a break,” he said at the time.

His constant wrangles with Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala on what people believed to be politics of succession attracted criticism. When the two were engaged in a scandal that involved leaked nude photos, Echesa’s credibility as a minister sank deeper.

Despite all these, and even with talk of anti-corruption purge in the Cabinet, Echesa’s name never featured in those expected to be shown the door. Sources now point at his possible links with suspects connected to last week’s Sh32 billion fake currency seizure in Ruiru, Kiambu County.

The money, in local and foreign currencies, was found stashed in boxes in a house off the Eastern bypass near the popular Kamaki’s area, leading to the arrest of three people – a couple and their female business associate.

Investigators linked the huge cache to a gang of seven that had only two days before been arrested for conning business magnate Naushad Merali out of Sh10 million, with one calling the city tycoon posing as President Kenyatta.

Those arraigned in a Nairobi Chief Magistrate’s Court were Joseph Waswa, Duncan Muchai, Isaac Wanyonyi, William Simiyu, David Luganya, Gilbert Kirunja and Anthony Wafula.

Last week, the former CS had however admitted to a local daily that he knew Waswa, describing him as a “personal friend”.

He however denied claims that the man alleged to have conned Merali was his business partner.

Between August and December last year, about 11 girls of Asian origin came into the country under unclear circumstances, ending up as dancers in a Nairobi nightclub. In those four months, the girls whose passports indicated they accessed the country on tourist visas, had managed to regularise their paperwork by obtaining special immigration passes.

A special immigration pass is a document issued to persons given specific employment by a specific employer for a short duration not exceeding three months or to someone receiving education or training at an educational or training establishment within the country, by which he/she has been accepted as a student/pupil. The circumstance under which the passes were issued were part of investigations and court proceedings linked Echesa to the case.

Evidence presented in court showed that Echesa allegedly personally signed off the entry of the dancers to “promote transnational cultures”.

A day after they were charged in court, and in clear indication that Echesa was not operating at the core of government, the dancers were deported.