Hon Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba

Time line of Hon Kenneth Matiba

Personal Details

Matiba

Matiba with his family.

• Born : 1932, June 1 in Kiharu, Murang'a County (formerly Murang'a District) in Central Kenya.
• Nationality : Kenyan
• Spouse : Edith Matiba
• Children : Julie Matiba, Susan Matiba and Raymond Matiba
• Political Party : Saba Saba Asili
• Alma Mater : Makerere University
• Books : Aiming High: The Story of my Life, An autobiography he released in 2000.

Notable Achievements

Matiba loved sports.

Matiba opening a hospital in Maragua.

• He was well educated at independence in 1963
• Matiba was in Government since Independence in 1963 - when both the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (First president of the Republic of Kenya) and His Excellency Daniel Arap Moi (Second president) were in office.
• In 1978, while aged 48, he was one of Kenya’s youngest indigenous millionaires.
• Played a pivotal role to expand the democratic space in Kenya in late 1980s and early 1990s.
• He became a permanent secretary while still in his 20s before quitting to join Kenya Breweries.
• An astute businessman and investor. His huge investment included:
  • A vast empire in the hotel industry, notably on sand-swept Diani Beach and several other five-star hotels along the coast and in central Kenya.
  • The prestigious Hillcrest Group of Schools that attracted the children of the mighty.
  • The People newspaper.
  • In the agriculture sector.
  • He mulled over starting his own airline in 1967 to airlift his farm produce abroad.
• A man of numerous firsts:
  • Matiba was the first indigenous Kenyan to venture into the tourist hotel business.
  • He was one of the only three African permanent secretaries serving in pre-independent Kenya.
  • He was the first Kenyan to serve as executive chairman of East African Breweries Limited (EABL), then known as Kenya Breweries.
  • He was the first Kikuyu elected chairman of the Kenya Football Association (KFA) in 1974.
• In May 2016, he opened a hospital named after him in Maragua Sub-county, Murang'a County.

Career

Matiba as a Sports Minister

Kenneth with a close friend, Charles Rubia.

• 2007 Dec : Vied for Presidential seat again and emerged the seventh with slightly over 8000 votes!
• 1998 : He penned his memoir - Aiming High: The Story of my Life
• 1992 Dec : Vied for the Presidential seat on a FORD-Asili ticket emerging second place.
• 1992 - 1997 : Leader of Opposition.
• 1992 - 1997 : Member of Parliament for Kiharu Constituency in Murang'a County.
• 1983 - 1988 : Minister of Transport and Communications; Minister of Health and Minister of Culture and Social Services.
• 1979 - 1990 : Member of Parliament for Mbiri (now known as Kiharu Constituency).
• 1974 - 1978 : Chairman of Kenya Football Federation.
• 1964 - 1968 : Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce.
• 1963 : Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education

Political Activism

Matiba doing a campaign.

Matiba with Raila Odinga.

• 1988 Dec : He resigned from the Cabinet and Parliament to protest Kanu’s obsessive rigging culture and repression.
• 1990 : He was held without trial at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison for calling for multiparty democarcy. He suffered a stroke while still in prison that affected half of his body. The stroke led to his incapacitation since he was denied a chance for medication.
• 1992 : Matiba released from prison.
• 1997 Dec : Boycotted the general election (citing a lack of democracy) and he burnt his voter's card.
• 2008 : Reregistered as a voter and remained chairman of Saba Saba Asili party.

[Kenneth Matiba] is a super-achiever, who came to grief on the sword of his unbending adherence to personal principles. He not only succeeded in almost everything he attempted, but did it in a big way.