CS Echesa says he cannot wait to prove his ‘enemies’ wrong

CS Sports Rashid Echesa

A few hours after Rashid Echesa was sworn in as Cabinet Secretary for Sports and National Heritage on Friday evening, he sat with his face buried in his palms on an open bench in a busy restaurant in Nairobi.

Behind him was a group of teenagers huddled around a phone, playing loud video games. Seated across him was a young couple, having hushed conversation, lost in their own world. Waiters scurried past him oblivious of the fact that the sleepy stranger staring lazily at the tattered menu had spent part of the day hi-fiving President Uhuru Kenyatta and being installed as a Cabinet Secretary in a crucial ministry.

At a distance, his personal security lingered about, dressed in black suits.

FLASHY SMILE

“If you want to ask about my education, I already said everything during the vetting. I did not get an opportunity to complete formal education,” he broke the ice. 

On Echesa’s side sat Stanley Livondo, popularly known as Mr Moneybag, for the lavish lifestyle he led when he was actively involved in politics. Like Echesa, Livondo bolted from the blues to the whirlwind of Kenyan politics, initially taking on Raila Odinga in Langa’ta. Livondo nodded, looked menacingly towards us and cautioned: “I also did not go to school, but that did not stop me from achieving my dreams. Keep talking about school; others are moving ahead without education.”

This must have warmed Echesa, for he flashed a smile soon thereafter. Livondo escorted his caution with a loud laughter, leaned closer to me, patted my arm and said: “Look, ask him what he will do for sportsmen, it is what he has been appointed to do. You have said everything you could about him being a primary school drop out.”

Echesa has no intention of revisiting the topic of his education. His focus, he said, was to get into office, have a meeting with stakeholders and start a turnaround of a ministry he believes has been marred by controversies, yet has potential. “There are claims that this job is a reward – that you are a hatchet man for some people in power?” I asked.

“What does hatchet man mean? Do not complicate issues, let us talk about what I want to do, not who I am,” he responded.

He looked at his watch and said if the interview was bent on crucifying him, he would leave. His security men moved closer. Echesa yawned. When I asked about his life as a boxer – his face lit up.

His love for boxing was a mix of vanity and passion, he said. He loved the ripped look boxers in magazines and television had. His two cousins in Mumias were boxers, and when they returned home, they would regale him with tales on the thrills of boxing.

For Echesa, it was what he needed. After dropping out from Shibale primary, life gave him a beating. He was always broke. “Boxing was what I did to avoid trouble,” he said.

When he took a job as a casual labourer in Mumias Sugar Company, he joined a local boxing team and was later recruited by then Kenya Prison boxing coach George Gichuki.

“I have been in the field, and I know the shared narratives of sportsmen trying to make a name and earn money. I was once there,” he said.

Ironically, people close to him say boxing was the root of his troubles. An elder in Mumias said when he got enmeshed into boxing, he became too big for himself, often getting into fights with locals, and using his talent as a boxer to intimidate people. Echesa shook his head when I asked about it.  “All lies. I can tell you, those are all lies,” he said.

He quickly added that he has used his muscles on several occasions, but only to stop excesses of regimes. He said when Kakamega County was imposing taxes on boda boda operators, he organised a massive demonstration that had other operators hooting and yelling, until the government bowed and withdrew the taxation.

Governor Wycliffe Oparanya is baffled by the claims. He says traders are expected by law to pay taxes. “They are paying. Why would Echesa say they are not? Let him concentrate on his executive duties and leave politics to us,” he says.

Echesa’s life has often been embroiled in controversy. From the mystery on how he sprung from being a loader in Mumias, joining local politics and finally being catapulted into high office. Political analysts see succession arithmetic in his appointment. In Echesa, they see Deputy President William Ruto positioning himself to gain the Western vote in 2022.

A photo of Echesa and Ruto laughing and shaking hands that emerged on social media before his vetting seemed to solidify a friendship brewed in a place beyond Mumias, where Echesa was born 35 years ago.

PROPERLY GUIDED

He revealed that Ruto’s close aide Farouk Kibet was among the first people who called him to inform him of his nomination to Cabinet. 

“For sure, Ruto and I are friends. But I am also friends with Uhuru and Raila,” he said, quickly disputing the wide spread narrative that he had a major fallout with Raila before he jumped to Jubilee.

“We had confrontation with Tinga (Raila) when people were being killed in Mumias. He visited Mumias, and the youths were agitated, asking them where they (leaders) had been when it started,” he said, referring to police killings in Mumias two years ago. When I asked about his wife and family, he leaned back, but before he could respond, Livondo flapped his hands, and said: “No. That is personal. You cannot ask about women. Talk about sports.”

Echesa was properly guided. He will not parade his wife around, saying even though he is married with three children, that part he will keep secret. Amid whispered rumours of his love for fine women, beer and cars, Echesa has often accused those propagating such stories as “enemies of progress” who cannot wrap their minds around the idea that a young man can work hard and make it in life.

“I am all about determination and focus. Let them watch me and see,” he said.

“Rashid, what about heritage? Any comprehensive plans on what you will do?” I ask as the interview winds up.

Before he could respond, one of his friends cast on me a harsh look and said:

“Call him waziri. He is a Cabinet Secretary,” he said.

Rashid nodded and said: “It will take a while before people get used to it. It took me a while to believe I was nominated,” he said before getting into his car.