Why Is Biwott Transferring Assets Now?

When we were all busy worrying about the post election tensions and turmoil, nobody remembered to analyze exactly what happened in the last elections and especially how the giants fell. Actually one of the major shocks of last december’s general elections was the felling of political giant, Nicholas Kipyator Biwott by a nobody in his Keiyo South constituency. Jackson Kiptanui Kiplagat of ODM garnered 30,380 votes to Biwott’s paltry 9,483.

So for the first time since the late seventies, Biwott is not an MP.

But what should worry Kenyans even more is what Biwott is up to now that he is away from the political limelight and can spend much more time on his colossal business empire. The reason why Kenyans must forever be interested in Biwott is really simple but let me spell it out here. We know how Bill Gates made his money and we also know how the Rockefeller family (descendants of JOHN D. Rockefeller) made their money. Closer to home we have a pretty good idea of how Manu Chandaria came to own so many prosperous companies. Now my question is simple, How did Nicholas Biwott make his money? If I may put it bluntly he made his seed money from stealing public money and taking hefty bribes for major government projects. The Turkwell Gorge Hydroelectric project made Biwott, to name one colossal project.

Sources inform this writer that in recent times the former Keiyo South legislator has been very busy transferring huge funds to the most unlikely of destinations. And that is Canada. The leaked Kroll report told us that the Moi’s for example have been getting pretty nervous and have transferred a lot of their funds to an African country called Namibia. We also know that if push comes to shove accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere can be frozen. So behind this backdrop why would Nicholas Biwott transfer vast sums of his ill-gotten wealth to Canada of all places?

To make things even more fascinating, Biwott is on Visa bans to the West. Meaning that his travel is very limited. He cannot go to most of Europe and the United States. This is the reason why the recent movements of one of his several wives, Eldoret east legislator Prof, Margaret Kamar has raised eyebrows. Prof Kamar has been on an extended visit to most of Europe and other undisclosed stop overs.

Some have even speculating that she is being used to move around Biwott’s cash and to even transact on behalf of him. Hon Prof Kamar was conspicuously absent from parliament on Tuesday when the legislators were passing the landmark bills that emerged from the Annan peace deal.

But experts in these matters point in a different direction in relation to the movement of funds to Canada by Biwott. One of the prominent names to belinked to Biwott in the Krol report was that of his sin-in-law, a Mr Charles Field Marsham. Guess what nationality Mr Marsham is? Surprise, surprise. He is Canadian.

In fact there is now a very easy way to trace Biwott’s involvement in many prominent Kenyan companies. Just look for Mr Marsham’s name in the board of directors.

So could Mr Biwott be handing over most of the colossal family assets to his trusted sin-in-law? What are the legal implications? Can the assets be touched by future investigations and asset freezes? Thos are the questions that this writer is still searching answers for.

You may be reading this and getting a little confused. Maybe you are aksing yourself the question, how many wives does Biwott have? Actually to be honest with you, I have no idea. And I believe few people on the planet do. But theer is also his Israeli wife, maybe the most prominent amongst his wives and the mother of the Biwott daughter who is married to Mr Marsham.

Concerning the transfer of funds, Mr Biwott is capable of anything. Many Kenyans have forgotten or are not aware of the fact that Biwott cut his teeth carrying the late Bruce McKenzie’s briefcase. Mr Mckenzie was the first White face to appear in an independent Kenya cabinet and was appointed agriculture minister by Kenyan’s first president Jomo Kenyatta. But more fascinating is the fact that most people seem to have been aware that the burly, always jovial mzungu was an operative for major foreign spy agencies. It is instructive that Mckenzie died on a flight back to Kenya from Uganda in the 70s. It is believed that Ugandan dictator whom he had come from seeing, planted a bomb on the plane in the form of a “gift” he gave to Mckenzie.

So what I am trying to say is that covert operations are not new to Biwott and one cannot rule out the possibility of his sneaking in and out of countries where he has been barred from visiting.

Theer are indications that a number of major local businessmen are at the moment desperately trying to sell off their local assets. It seems that the recent troubles and the increasing clamour for proper democracy and justice could be scaring them off since most of them have done deals that they may not want to be scrutinized too closely by an unfriendly government of the future.

It will be interesting to observe what happens to Biwott’s assets in Kenya in the next two years or so. Probably his most lucrative operation is the Kenil/Kobil operation which together with Biwott’s personal important of fuel accounts for 17 per cent of the Kenyan oil industry. This is fairly significant in an industry mainly controlled by foreign owned conglomerates.