Former president made me a Kenyan

Gurvinder Bawa has many dear memories of late president Daniel Moi.

From the extravagant banquets he attended at Moi’s home in Kabarak to how Moi generously paid school fees for needy girls and the impromptu visits he made to the school where Bawa taught.

He still recalls how students, teachers and the rest of the staff would all rush out and surround Moi’s motorcade and break into song and dance to welcome him.

Bawa first came to Kenya in 1981. He had one mission – to save enough money to join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He had received a calling letter to the prestigious institute, but was unable to join as he could not afford the fee of $5,000-more than Sh500,000, that was required for the first semester.

Although he finished his undergraduate degree in India with exemplary grades, the chances for the Myanmese refugee who had fled to India with his family at the age of eight were limited.

Growing up in India, Bawa had watched his poor parents struggle to put food on the table. Later, she went into hawking for survival.

“If I didn’t sell, I wouldn’t have rice to boil in the evening,” he recalls.

Bawa managed to join the university and obtained a scholarship to study a master’s degree in organic chemistry.

In 1981, he and his sister came to Kenya to teach chemistry at A-level Chemistry. His sister taught home economics at Kapropita Girls’ Secondary School in Baringo County.

Could not afford

“I was on my way to MIT where I was accepted in 1978, but unfortunately I could not afford the $5,000 for the first semester. So when I got the job in Kenya I said I would work for a while and save then continue on my dream,” he recalls.

In Baringo, Bawa led an unremarkable life. But everything changed for him one day in 1983, when Moi visited Kapropita Girls’ Secondary School for parents’ day.

The school organised a spectacular event for the President. Bawa’s sister baked him a cake with the name ‘Nyayo’ inscribed on it.

Moi was impressed, not just with the cake, but also by Bawa’s show at the chemistry laboratory.

“He passed through my lab and asked me, ‘Mwalimu (teacher), are you a Kenyan citizen,’” Bawa recalls with a chuckle.

After a hesitant pause, Bawa recalls answering Moi: “No, but I love your country”.

He did not know it, but Bawa became a Kenyan citizen that day. A week later, the school principal summoned him into his office.

“She told me the mayor’s office called and that mzee wanted me and my sister to be officially registered citizens of Kenya. We had to be ready at a short notice because Philemon Chelangat, the mayor of Kabarnet was going with us to Nairobi,” he said.

In 1985, Bawa and his sister finally received Kenyan citizenship.

“Moi made me a Kenyan citizen and changed my life. I am indebted to him,” he says.

Tomorrow, a memorial service for Moi will be held at the Nyayo National Stadium. Bawa will be celebrating his 36th year as a Kenyan, a privilege he says he would not have acquired if I were not for Moi.

But that was not all Moi did for him.

On one of the delegations to Kabarak, Bawa recalls that he and some colleagues asked Moi for land. Months later, he and 18 colleagues each received 1.9 hectares of land in Kitale.

He still keeps the title deed. But above everything, he keeps memories of Moi, who changed him from an ordinary teacher to a successful businessman today. Most of all, Bawa remembers Moi for making him a Kenyan.