Look at the names: Moses Kuria, Raphael Tuju, Peter Munga, Wainaina wa Jungle, Swarup Mishra, Okoth Obado, Naomi Shabaan, Charles Kilonzo, Njoroge Njuguna (Nyoro Construction), Philip Okundi, Florence Mbugua (Jubilee Center). These were Kenya’s elite – tycoons whose wealth once screamed success. Now, their empires crumble under the auctioneer’s hammer, their homes, businesses, and legacies sold off to settle crippling debts. If these giants can fall, what hope is there for middle and upper-income Kenyans who’ve tuned out the political noise?
Kenyans facing auction: Moses Kuria, Raphael Tuju, Peter Munga, Wainaina wa Jungle, Swarup Mishra, Okoth Obado, Naomi Shabaan, Charles Kilonzo, Njoroge Njuguna (Nyoro Construction), Philip Okundi, Florence Mbugua (Jubilee Center).
The irony is biting. Moses Kuria, Peter Munga, and Wainaina wa Jungle are drowning in the same economic chaos Kuria helped unleash. As Trade Cabinet Secretary, Kuria’s reckless meddling in the macadamia industry – arbitrary policy shifts fueled by blackmail and extortion – tanked a thriving sector, wiping out livelihoods and fortunes. Yet, with no shame, he struts before the mainstream media, spewing hollow rhetoric to anyone still listening. This is Kenya’s leadership: unaccountable, brazen, and destructive.
The truth is stark: wealth in Kenya is fragile, and your apathy makes it more so. Middle and upper-income Kenyans, you’ve mastered the art of detachment, treating politics as a sideshow while splurging on lavish holidays, shisha lounges, and weekend getaways. You’ll drop tens of thousands on a night out but scoff at funding bloggers and activists, who risk everything to expose the rot threatening your future.
Instead, you’re captivated by the mainstream media’s distractions, Aoko Otieno’s gossip, Rigathi Gachagua’s sideshows, or sex scandals that keep you entertained but blind to the economic guillotine looming over your heads.
Your disengagement has consequences. You don’t attend legislative public participation forums, you don’t engage in legal proceedings critical to your well-being, and you don’t finance political outfits or activists fighting for accountability. You malign bloggers and activists, calling them “noise-makers” or “hustlers,” dismissing their sacrifices as they face harassment, arrests, or worse to shine a light on corruption.
One bad presidency, one rigged election, and your life’s work – your business, your home, your savings – can vanish. The economy is a rigged game, designed to enrich colonialists and their local puppets like the Kenyatta Family Criminal Enterprise (KFCE), while leaving you scrambling for scraps.
This isn’t just about fallen tycoons; it’s a warning. Bad governance, fueled by your poor electoral choices, has gutted the economy. The sugar industry’s collapse is a case study in your apathy. Importation schemes, orchestrated by barons like Evans Kidero, killed Mumias Sugar and other mills. How? They shut down factories for “maintenance,” created artificial shortages, and triggered media-fueled outrage. Parliament, instead of investigating, passed laws granting sugar import licenses to seven companies. Kidero then flooded the market with Mumias local sugar which had been hoarded, bought out the licenses from the struggling importers who went at a loss due to over-supply, and repackaged that same stock as Mumias Sugar with fake Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) documentation after creating another shortage.
Former Mumias Sugar CEO and former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero credited with killing the sugar sector
The mainstream media sanitized him, paving the way for his deplorable stint as Nairobi governor and land-grabber extraordinaire. Some even touted him as presidential material, alongside corrupt figures like former KQ CEO Titus Naikuni.
MPs from the sugar belt, like Boni Khalwale, knew the game but played to the gallery with fake outrage, pretending to stand for farmers. The media’s polished puppets – those with fake British accents and slick demeanor- are the real danger. Yet, you remain enthralled by their narratives, ridiculing the very activists and bloggers who expose these schemes.
Foreign interests thrive in this vacuum. Donors, diplomats, and international NGOs push agendas – some promoting divisive social issues, others protecting multinational companies that kill local industries. Look at the war on illicit brews: indigenous distillers like Humphrey Kariuki were targeted after Diageo’s CEO met Uhuru Kenyatta and then-Trade CS Adan Mohammed. Local distilleries were raided, but EABL, where Mama Ngina Kenyatta holds major shares, remained untouched. Your apathy hands the political process to these wolves – importers, shipping cartels, and foreign firms that dismantle domestic production to keep Kenya dependent.
As Uhuru Kenyatta rolled out the red carpet for the Diageo CEO, he hauled local brewer and distiller Humphrey Kariuki to jail all for the crime of being a local entrepreneur in a foreign dominated field
You, the middle and upper-income Kenyan, have the resources to fight back but choose not to. You’ll spend a fortune on luxury but draw the line at supporting activists or bloggers who sacrifice for your well-being. You shun civic education, mock electoral engagement, and ignore the #OccupyStateHouse marches or #RutoMustGo campaigns. You’d rather gossip about “Mama Mboga” or “Boda Boda” politics than fund the voices amplifying your struggles.
This is your wake-up call. The tribulations of Kenya’s tycoons are your future if you don’t act. Politics isn’t a spectator sport – it’s your survival. The economy is a battlefield, and you’re losing because you’re not fighting. Stop waiting for saviors. Your vote, your voice, your refusal to be distracted, your support for activists, and your participation in protests are the revolution Kenya needs.
Act now, or the auctioneer’s hammer will come for you next.
