A chat with Former Narok North MP William ol Ntimama A: Moi is a personal friend. I can pick this phone even now and he will tell me ‘come to Kabarak.’ He is very generous and kind. He can pay school fees for children from poor families and bare-foot women from Baringo could go to his house and eat with him. If it were not for Moi, the Kalenjin would not have been educated. But as President, he did not want anybody to go ahead of him. This made him one of the worst dictators. He even detained me in 1983 for 102 days for alleged incitement. Q: Despite your Kanu background, you are a fierce defender of Raila Odinga, who cut his political teeth fighting Moi. Like Paul of Tarsus who was converted on his way to Damascus, when did you see the light? A: I had experienced the dangers of a dictatorship. I wanted freedom. Raila had suffered for all of us. That is why I decided to lend him support. Q: Do you see him seizing the presidency in your lifetime? A: You never know… Maybe he will never win… At least some of us would have loved to see him ascend to the presidency. He has not been lucky. Poor man. Q: You guys waged a formidable campaign yet, you lost the election. A: The TNA machinery was determined to finish Raila and all of us. We did not lose. They stole the election. There, are of course certain areas we should have done better, but we were winning. Q: Cord today is outmarshalled and outmanoeuvred. There are those who think it is time Raila handed over the baton. A: Maybe it is a small lull. They will wake up. But I don’t see anybody who can step in Raila’s shoes. The whole area is empty. Q: Not even Kalonzo Musyoka? A: Ha ha ha. Don’t antagonise me with my friends but that coward… he can’t even put his own house in order. Q: Was it the antelope or the envelope? A: Ha ha ha. Oh that incident. There were all these people all over Narok destroying our water catchments and I told them to lie low like an antelope. It was an antelope, but the press picked envelope and it became so popular I didn’t want to interfere. It remains envelope in the books of history. Q: Do you regret the consequences? A: No. I never regret when I say what I believe in. Sometimes I don’t get time to put it nicely but I don’t retract. Q: What is the most memorable interaction you had with Moi? A: Nothing specific really, but I can just tell you he never really caught on well with any Kikuyu leader, and he used me.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 09:00:33 +0000
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