Matere Keriri opens up on his clash with Lucy, loyalty to Kibaki

Former State House Comptroller Matere Keriri. [File, Standard]

Former State House Comptroller John Matere Keriri says he was not sacked by former President Kibaki for differing with first lady Lucy Kibaki as is commonly perceived.

“I did not want anything that brought misunderstanding between me and my mentor friend Kibaki. So I asked him to allow me to resign,” he says.

“Lucy refused to support me and Dr Dan Gikonyo in spite of the role we played in pulling Kibaki from the jaws of death following the road accident in Machakos,” rues Matere, whose friendship with Kibaki started at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda where he (president) was his teacher.

He was State House Comptroller for one year and three months after being at the centre of Kibaki’s 2002 election victory catalysed by Raila Odinga’s annihilation of Kanu. He says Raila’s KibakiTosha declaration at Uhuru Park was the last nail in Kanu’s coffin.

Could not allow it

Keriri divulges that suggestions had been made that Raila be made Prime Minister but the Constitution as it was at the time could not allow it.

He says a memorandum of understanding between Kibaki and Raila was indeed in the offing, but not about succession as perceived. “It revolved on the nomination of Cabinet ministers on the strength of Kibaki’s National Alliance Party of Kenya and Raila’s Liberal Democratic Party, a gamble that proved too chaotic to survive,” he says.

Away from politics, Keriri was among the first Africans to serve in the Treasury shortly before independence. “I was to remain there for the next 10 years, rising from Assistant Secretary, Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary (Financial Secretary).

“I joined the Treasury in March 1962 after a Senior Administrative Course at the Kenya Institute of Administration (now Kenya School of Government). The only Africans I found there were Duncan Ndegwa who was Financial Secretary and Permanent Secretary for Planning, and Peter Gachathi as Assistant Secretary,” he says.

“James Gichuru came to take over from a white man as Minister for Finance on June 1, 1962 (first Madaraka Day when Kenyatta became Prime Minister) with Kibaki as Assistant Finance Minister,” he recalls.

Keriri is proud to have contributed to the establishment of the Central Bank of Kenya of which Mr Ndegwa became the first Governor.

“I was in the frontline in developments such as creation of the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) in 1969 and the move by the government to buy into National and Grindlays Bank that split into Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) as we know it today and the defunct Grindlays Bank International,” he recalls.

The former State House Comptroller says the late John Michuki was posted from the Treasury to be the KCB chairman while Stanley Githunguri became the first chairman of NBK and him the non-executive chairman of Grindlays Bank International while still serving in the Treasury.

He became Chief Executive Officer of the Development Finance Company of Kenya (DFCK) owned jointly by the United Kingdom, Netherlands, German and Kenya Governments in 1972.

“DFCK was the vehicle to attract foreign investment and that enabled me to oversee the birth of many industries that generated employment opportunities for Kenyans. Most of these industries have since gone down due to corruption, mismanagement and greed. They include textile mills in Thika (Thika Textile Mills), Kisumu (Kicomi) and Eldoret (Rivatex), firms that breathed life into the cotton sector.

“Others were sugar factories now dead or suffocating from runaway legal and illegal exports of the sweet commodity. Mumias, Sony, Chemelil, Muhoroni and Miwani are sad cases in point,” narrates Keriri.

During his 10-year tenure as CEO of DFCK, he was a director in most of the manufacturing industries.

He says they included Juja-based East African Bag and Cordage factory that manufactured gunny bags from locally grown sisal was an early victim of greed by importers of cheap plastic bags.

Keriri cites frustration at the rate at which industries he helped midwife were dying among reasons that prompted him to relinquish his lofty position at DFCK, unsure of where to go next.

“February 24, 1982, the date I called it quits at DFCK remains clear in my mind. It was the day Kibaki was transferred from the Treasury to become Minister of Commerce and industry, taking over from Dr Julius Gikonyo Kiano,” he remembers.

Appalled by the divide

Keriri’s opportunity to go to Parliament came in 1983 when President Moi called snap elections. He wrestled down then Kirinyaga West MP James Njiru who was the favourite of the system.

He says he had always been appalled by the divide between Ndia and Gichugu. Once in Parliament, Moi surprised him with appointments as Assistant Minister for Commerce and industry under Kibaki and later Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Works under Peter Okondo.

“My win that came as a shock to the regime was a chance for me to heal that rift,” he says. “To my disappointment though, I went to Parliament when my rival Charles Njonjo had already been declared a traitor. I had wished to meet him there for a face off,” states Matere who claims he was rigged out during the 1988 Mlolongo elections.

He went into private practice as Chairman of Projects Finance Consultancy, a company he steers to this day.

“It was Kibaki who brought me back to public service as his State House Comptroller and later as Executive Chairman of Electricity Regulatory Board after I left State House,” he explains.