Nicholas Biwott
Encyclopedia
Kipyator Nicholas Kiprono arap Biwott (born 1940) is a Kenya
n businessman, politician and philanthropist. Biwott has served as a civil servant, Member of Parliament and government minister, during which time he has held eight senior ministerial positions, worked alongside Kenya’s first three presidents – Jomo Kenyatta
, Daniel arap Moi
and Mwai Kibaki
– and with many significant public figures in post independence Kenya, including Bruce McKenzie and Tom Mboya
. During Moi's presidency, Nicholas Biwott was considered by many as one of Kenya's most powerful politicians and able administrators.
, Rift Valley Province in 1940. His mother Maria Soti and his father Cheserem, a successful market trader in Eldoret. Cheserem's initial capital had been based on being a cattle owner and throughout his early adult years he developed substantial herds of cattle, sheep and goats. The young Nicholas Biwott grew up herding these flocks in keeping with Kalenjin tradition. As a teenager and young man Nicholas Biwott worked alongside his father and together they built a successful business as a market trader in Eldoret.
, but was defeated. At the next election in 1979 he was successful, standing on KANU ticket in Keiyo-Marakwet, retaining the seat in 1983 and 1988. In 1992, 1997, and 2002 he was elected the MP for Keiyo South Constituency. In the Parliamentary elections held on December 27, 2007, running on a KANU ticket, he lost his Keiyo South Parliamentary seat to a political novice Jackson Kiptanui arap Kamai of the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) as the ODM swept to victory in all but one of KANU's seats on the Rift Valley.
Following the 2002 election, Biwott served on the Devolution Committee of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. Biwott was the only Member of Parliament, however, to abstain on the Constitutional Referendum held in 2005, stating that the Draft Constitution 'would divide the country along ethnic lines'. The Draft Constitution was rejected at the Referendum.
More recently, Biwott has fought an election for leadership of KANU, the former party of government and now the official opposition, following years of catastophic decline in KANU political fortunes (109 seats in 1997, 64 in 2002, down to 14 in 2007) but lost the post to Uhuru Kenyatta following a decision by the Kenyan High Court.
Nicholas Biwott entered government service in 1965 as the District Officer in South Imenti and Tharaki, Meru District (Jan 1965–66). As District Officer Biwott instituted, on a ‘harrambe’ basis, community fund-raising programmes to aid the development of local irrigation projects and roads, to build a health centre at Nkwene and schools at Nkubu and Kanyakini, develop employment at the Egoji quarries and promote the planting of coffee and tea. He was also actively involved in the resettlement of previously European owned land through the ‘Land Transfer’ programme, part of the ‘Million Acres’ scheme, and played a central role in the rehabilitation of the Mau Mau, many of whom still remained in the Mau Forest four years after the end of the ‘Emergency’, helping to persuade them to give up violence and organising the resettlement of many on to their own land.
Ministry of Agriculture
Having completed his Master's degree in Australia in 1968, Nicholas Biwott returned to public service in the Ministry of Agriculture, GOK, Personal Assistant to Minister Bruce MacKenzie (1968–1970). He coordinated cereal production, the marketing of cereal crops and the management of the Ministry’s fertilizer policy, and helped develop research into new strains of wheat and maize more suited to the growing conditions in Kenya. He played a similar coordinating role for the Ministry’s work with the East African Council of Ministers (MacKenzie was also a member of the Council), guiding Kenya’s policy in the region in the development of ports, railways and the East African Airways.
Treasury
In 1971 Nicholas Biwott moved to the Treasury as Senior Secretary under the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mwai Kibaki. In 1972 he created and headed the External Aid Division and technical assistance program dealing with external resources, bringing in experts and arranging cultural exchanges. Notably he helped facilitate the establishment of the French School in Nairobi (now called the Lycee Denis Diderot), the French Cultural Centre with the Alliance de Francais, and the German Frederick Ebert Stifftung Foundation in cooperation with the Gurter Institute.
Ministry of Home Affairs
In late 1972 Nicholas Biwott transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the personal recommendation of President Kenyatta to work with his Vice-President and the Minister of Home Affairs, Daniel arap Moi.
In 1974 Biwott stood as a candidate for the Keiyo South constituency in the general election of that year but was narrowly defeated.
Following the 1974 election Nicholas Biwott was recalled to the Ministry of Home Affairs as Under Secretary (1974–1978) to Minister Daniel arap Moi, Kenya’s Vice President. With the aging President Kenyatta unable to fulfil all the functions of the presidency, Moi took a leading role in the East African region with the result that Nicholas Biwott spent much of the next four years dealing with the Organisation of African Unity, the Commonwealth, the ‘non-aligned’ states and promoting the ‘good neighbourliness’ policy with states bordering Kenya.
Kenyatta’s death in 1978 saw Daniel arap Moi elevated to the presidency and Nicholas Biwott promoted to Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President (1978–1979).
Minister of State
Following the election of 1979 (in which he was elected Member of Parliament for 1979 Keiyo South election
, a seat he retained until December 2007), Nicholas Biwott returned to the Office of the President but now promoted to Minister of State (1979–1982) with responsibility for science and technology, cabinet affairs, land settlement and immigration.
Under his auspices the Kenya Medical Research Institute was established in the same year to carry out health science research in Kenya. (Now in its 31st year, KEMRI continues its work as “a leading centre of excellence in the promotion of quality health”).
Minister of Regional Development, Science and Technology
In September 1982 he was appointed Minister of Regional Development, Science and Technology. Learning from examples of other regional development policies, notably in Australia and Tennessee in the USA, he created two regional development authorities, the Lake Basin Development Authority and the Kerio Valley Development Authority.
Minister of Energy
In September 1983, Nicholas Biwott was made Minster of Energy and Regional Development and in March 1988 (following a reorganisation of ministry portfolios) he became Minister of Energy, a post he held until January 1991.
Over the next seven years he was instrumental in establishing the National Oil Corporation, the building of National Oil storage facilities near Nairobi and connecting them to the Mombasa refinery, and extending the pipeline from Nairobi to Kisumu and Eldoret. This period that saw rapid advances in efforts to improve Kenya’s electricity supply and delivery with a rural electrification programme, work beginning on the Sondu Mirei Dam, and the completions of the Masinga Multi Purpose Dam, the Kiambere Hydro Electric Dam and the Turkwell Hydro Electric Multi Purpose Dam.
Minister of East African and Regional Co-operation
Although he remained a Member of Parliament, Biwott held no position in the Government of Kenya from 1991 until he re-entered government as Minister of State in the Office of the President of East Africa in 1997 before, in January 1998, he established and was appointed Minister of the new Ministry of East African and Regional Co-operation (1998–1999).
Nicholas Biwott played a central role in COMESA – the Common Market for East and Central Africa, coordinating with COMESA partner Ministers legislation for an East African Road network, legislation for an East African Legislative Assembly, and becoming Chairman of both COMESA and of the East Africa Council of Ministers.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Tourism and East African Cooperation
In September 1999 Biwott’s ministerial portfolio was expanded when he became Minister of Trade and Industry, Tourism and East African Cooperation (1999–2001), a post he held for the next three years during which he established a Tourist Trust Fund with the European Union
, set up the Tourist Police and re-introduced the East Africa Safari Rallies.
Biwott's promotion of Kenyan tourism met with some praise. He was variously described as "the hardest working minister of tourism Kenya has ever had" and as "the best minister of tourism in 25 years".
In May 2001 (following a further reorganisation of Ministry responsibilities) Nicholas Biwott continued as the Minister of Trade and Industry and East African Tourism (2001–2002). Over the next eighteen months he established the Small Medium Trade Trust Fund with the European Union, introduced an Intellectual Property bill which was passed as an Act, accomplished a free trade area with COMESA, established the Africa Trade Insurance Agency to cover foreign investments against political risk, and served as Chairman of the African Caribbean Pacific Group (ACP) at the World Trade Organisation.
As a teenager in the late 1950s Biwott worked alongside his father who had established a successful fruit and vegetable business in Eldoret. The young Biwott also borrowed small amounts of money from a local bank with which to expand his own business sideline selling meat products and eggs. Nicholas Biwott continued to expand his own business and in the late 1960s formed ABC Foods selling food and animal feed products.
Within a few years Nicholas Biwott was able to invest in farms and businesses, taking advantage of the post-independence banking policies at the time by which Kenyans were granted loans on favourable terms. In 1969, aged 29, Biwott purchased the Eldoret Town International Harvester (IH) dealership (now FMD trading as Lima Ltd). He also purchased a dairy farm in the same year, started an importer exporter business in 1972, purchased two wheat farms in 1974, invested in the sole agency for IH in Kenya for agricultural tractors and implements in 1975, and purchased a local air operator in 1977 (now Air Kenya).
Biwott's business philosophy of purchasing small or failing businesses, investing and re-investing in them over many years, appears to have paid dividends. He is now regarded as one of Kenya's wealthiest businessmen.
Biwott's businesses in Kenya employ thousands of people and one company of which he is the major shareholder, has for many years been listed among Kenya's top 10 corporate taxpayers.
Biwott continues to expand and develop the scope of his charitable work, most recently in 2008 establishing the Mbegu Trust (go to Mbegu Trust) ‘to develop education and opportunity in Kenya’.
Nicholas Biwott is on record over the last 40 years of supporting many projects in the areas of education, health and medicine, and assisting small businesses.
Educational projects
Nicholas Biwott has raised and contributed funds for the building of some 16 schools, serving as Chairman of the Board for many of them.
He has built and funded two of these schools in their entirety:
The Maria Soti Educational Centre, a model school for girls from all backgrounds and areas of Kenya, has been built near Eldoret by Nicholas Biwott as a tribute to his mother.
He has also raised and contributed funds for the building and expansion of:
Nicholas Biwott is also a founder and Patron of the Keiyo South Education Foundation that provides bursaries to needy students from primary to post secondary education.
Funding health and medicine
In the area of health and medicine Nicholas Biwoot has raised and contributed funds for the building of Sub District Hospitals including;
The building or expansion of Health Centres, including;
The building of Dispensaries, including;
Biwott was named by Scotland Yard
detective John Troon as a person of interest in the 1990 murder of Kenya's Foreign Affairs minister Robert Ouko. Troon’s theories and the basis for them as to the motives for the murder have since been criticized.
Ten government officials, including Biwott, were held in police custody for questioning for two weeks in November 1991 but a Kenyan Police investigation concluded that there was no 'evidence to support the allegations that Biwott was involved in the disappearance and subsequent death of the late minister Dr. Robert John Ouko'.
To date, the allegation that Biwott was involved in the murder of Dr Robert Ouko has never been factually substantiated.
In 2000, a Nairobi court awarded Mr Biwott record damages of Sh30 million arising from a case in which he sued the British forensic expert Dr Ian West and others for linking him to the Ouko murder. Earlier Biwott won Sh10 million from Bookpoint, a popular Nairobi bookshop, for stocking copies of the book Dr Ian West’s Casebook.
In 1993 the ‘Goldenberg scandal’ came to light when the Kenyan government was found to have subsidised exports of gold by paying a company, Goldenberg International Ltd (GIL), 35 percent more (in Kenyan shillings) than the foreign currency earnings supposedly derived from the sale of gold., a scheme had begun in 1991 and is estimated to have cost Kenya the equivalent of more than 10 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product. A Commission of Inquiry headed by Mr Justice Bosire reported its findings in October 2005 stating that Sh158.3 billion [$2.1 billion] of Goldenberg money had been transacted through 487 companies and individuals. 1,559 ‘Adverse Notices’ were issued against companies and individuals but although Nicholas Biwott was included on that list he was only mentioned directly or indirectly in three of the reports 847 paragraphs and the report, together with subsequent revelations would seem to absolve Biwott of any involvement in the scandal.
The Report of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry into the Goldenberg Affair (to which Nicholas Biwott was not summons to appear) states on para 511 that Lima Limited, of which Biwott was shareholder and director, was 'said (to) have received Kshs.6,300,000.00 [$84,000] from GIL'. However, it was subsequently revealed that the payment to Lima Ltd, a company that sold farm machinery and equipment, was made not from GIL but by Tandui Estates Ltd for the purchase of farm equipment, including a number of tractors and other machinery. Paragraph 693 of the same report mentions Biwott in conjunction with a payment of KShs. 6,000,000 [$80,000], which involved Trade Bank Ltd, Pan-African Bank Ltd and Liabilities of H.Z. & Co. Ltd. The Commission concluded however, that 'no moneys of Goldenberg were involved'.
Nicholas Biwott has been banned from entering the United States and the United Kingdom. The US Government has never made public the reason for the ban or evidence in support of the decision. Biwott is now but one name on a long list of Kenyan politicians and civil servants seen as anti-reformist or too associated with the Moi era, banned from travel to the United States and the UK including most recently, in October 2009, Kenya's Attorney General Amos Wako, in what has been described by Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetang'ula as "megaphone diplomacy".
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
n businessman, politician and philanthropist. Biwott has served as a civil servant, Member of Parliament and government minister, during which time he has held eight senior ministerial positions, worked alongside Kenya’s first three presidents – Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyattapron.] served as the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation....
, Daniel arap Moi
Daniel arap Moi
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi was the President of Kenya from 1978 until 2002.Daniel arap Moi is popularly known to Kenyans as 'Nyayo', a Swahili word for 'footsteps'...
and Mwai Kibaki
Mwai Kibaki
Mwai Kibaki is the current and third President of the republic of Kenya.Kibaki was previously Vice President of Kenya for ten years from 1978–1988 and also held cabinet ministerial positions, including a widely acclaimed stint as Minister for Finance , Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for...
– and with many significant public figures in post independence Kenya, including Bruce McKenzie and Tom Mboya
Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya was a prominent Kenyan politician during Jomo Kenyatta's government. He was founder of the Nairobi People's Congress Party, a key figure in the formation of the Kenya African National Union , and the Minister of Economic Planning and Development at the time of his death...
. During Moi's presidency, Nicholas Biwott was considered by many as one of Kenya's most powerful politicians and able administrators.
Early life
Nicholas Biwott was born in Chebior village, Keiyo DistrictKeiyo District
Keiyo District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. The district was formed in 1994, when Elgeyo/Marakwet-District was split into two, the other half is Marakwet District of today. Keiyo District has a population of 143.865...
, Rift Valley Province in 1940. His mother Maria Soti and his father Cheserem, a successful market trader in Eldoret. Cheserem's initial capital had been based on being a cattle owner and throughout his early adult years he developed substantial herds of cattle, sheep and goats. The young Nicholas Biwott grew up herding these flocks in keeping with Kalenjin tradition. As a teenager and young man Nicholas Biwott worked alongside his father and together they built a successful business as a market trader in Eldoret.
Education
- 1951-1954: Tambach Intermediate School, Tambach Rift Valley Province;
- 1955-1958: Kapsabet High School, Rift Valley Province;
- [In 1959, Biwott began working at the Department of Information in EldoretEldoretEldoret is a town in western Kenya and the administrative centre of Uasin Gishu District of Rift Valley Province. Lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about 2100 metres above sea level at the airport to more than 2700 metres in nearby areas...
. Later, together with Kendagor Bett, he published the Kalenjin Monthly newsletter]. - February–December 1961: George Taylor University, Melbourne, Australia;
- February 1962-Dec 1964: University of Melbourne, Australia: Bachelor of Commerce, Diploma in Public Administration: majored in Economics and Political Science.
- [December 1964-1965: Office of the President, Government of Kenya: employed by Office of the President seconded to Administration and appointed District Officer Nkubu, South Imenti Division, Meru District (see ‘Service in Government of Kenya’, below)].
- 1966: Course at Public Administration at Kenya Institute of Administration, Nairobi.
- March 1966-68: Commonwealth scholarship to study Masters in Economics at University of Melbourne, Australia (MCom (Prl).
Political career
Nicholas Biwott was a Member of Parliament for 28 years. In 1974 he ran as an MP for the Keiyo South ConstituencyKeiyo South Constituency
Keiyo South is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of two constituencies of Keiyo District. The constituency has 15 wards, all of which elect councillors for the Keiyo County Council. The constituency was established for the 1969 elections....
, but was defeated. At the next election in 1979 he was successful, standing on KANU ticket in Keiyo-Marakwet, retaining the seat in 1983 and 1988. In 1992, 1997, and 2002 he was elected the MP for Keiyo South Constituency. In the Parliamentary elections held on December 27, 2007, running on a KANU ticket, he lost his Keiyo South Parliamentary seat to a political novice Jackson Kiptanui arap Kamai of the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) as the ODM swept to victory in all but one of KANU's seats on the Rift Valley.
Following the 2002 election, Biwott served on the Devolution Committee of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. Biwott was the only Member of Parliament, however, to abstain on the Constitutional Referendum held in 2005, stating that the Draft Constitution 'would divide the country along ethnic lines'. The Draft Constitution was rejected at the Referendum.
More recently, Biwott has fought an election for leadership of KANU, the former party of government and now the official opposition, following years of catastophic decline in KANU political fortunes (109 seats in 1997, 64 in 2002, down to 14 in 2007) but lost the post to Uhuru Kenyatta following a decision by the Kenyan High Court.
Service in government of Kenya
District OfficerNicholas Biwott entered government service in 1965 as the District Officer in South Imenti and Tharaki, Meru District (Jan 1965–66). As District Officer Biwott instituted, on a ‘harrambe’ basis, community fund-raising programmes to aid the development of local irrigation projects and roads, to build a health centre at Nkwene and schools at Nkubu and Kanyakini, develop employment at the Egoji quarries and promote the planting of coffee and tea. He was also actively involved in the resettlement of previously European owned land through the ‘Land Transfer’ programme, part of the ‘Million Acres’ scheme, and played a central role in the rehabilitation of the Mau Mau, many of whom still remained in the Mau Forest four years after the end of the ‘Emergency’, helping to persuade them to give up violence and organising the resettlement of many on to their own land.
Ministry of Agriculture
Having completed his Master's degree in Australia in 1968, Nicholas Biwott returned to public service in the Ministry of Agriculture, GOK, Personal Assistant to Minister Bruce MacKenzie (1968–1970). He coordinated cereal production, the marketing of cereal crops and the management of the Ministry’s fertilizer policy, and helped develop research into new strains of wheat and maize more suited to the growing conditions in Kenya. He played a similar coordinating role for the Ministry’s work with the East African Council of Ministers (MacKenzie was also a member of the Council), guiding Kenya’s policy in the region in the development of ports, railways and the East African Airways.
Treasury
In 1971 Nicholas Biwott moved to the Treasury as Senior Secretary under the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mwai Kibaki. In 1972 he created and headed the External Aid Division and technical assistance program dealing with external resources, bringing in experts and arranging cultural exchanges. Notably he helped facilitate the establishment of the French School in Nairobi (now called the Lycee Denis Diderot), the French Cultural Centre with the Alliance de Francais, and the German Frederick Ebert Stifftung Foundation in cooperation with the Gurter Institute.
Ministry of Home Affairs
In late 1972 Nicholas Biwott transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the personal recommendation of President Kenyatta to work with his Vice-President and the Minister of Home Affairs, Daniel arap Moi.
In 1974 Biwott stood as a candidate for the Keiyo South constituency in the general election of that year but was narrowly defeated.
Following the 1974 election Nicholas Biwott was recalled to the Ministry of Home Affairs as Under Secretary (1974–1978) to Minister Daniel arap Moi, Kenya’s Vice President. With the aging President Kenyatta unable to fulfil all the functions of the presidency, Moi took a leading role in the East African region with the result that Nicholas Biwott spent much of the next four years dealing with the Organisation of African Unity, the Commonwealth, the ‘non-aligned’ states and promoting the ‘good neighbourliness’ policy with states bordering Kenya.
Kenyatta’s death in 1978 saw Daniel arap Moi elevated to the presidency and Nicholas Biwott promoted to Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President (1978–1979).
Minister of State
Following the election of 1979 (in which he was elected Member of Parliament for 1979 Keiyo South election
Keiyo South Constituency
Keiyo South is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of two constituencies of Keiyo District. The constituency has 15 wards, all of which elect councillors for the Keiyo County Council. The constituency was established for the 1969 elections....
, a seat he retained until December 2007), Nicholas Biwott returned to the Office of the President but now promoted to Minister of State (1979–1982) with responsibility for science and technology, cabinet affairs, land settlement and immigration.
Under his auspices the Kenya Medical Research Institute was established in the same year to carry out health science research in Kenya. (Now in its 31st year, KEMRI continues its work as “a leading centre of excellence in the promotion of quality health”).
Minister of Regional Development, Science and Technology
In September 1982 he was appointed Minister of Regional Development, Science and Technology. Learning from examples of other regional development policies, notably in Australia and Tennessee in the USA, he created two regional development authorities, the Lake Basin Development Authority and the Kerio Valley Development Authority.
Minister of Energy
In September 1983, Nicholas Biwott was made Minster of Energy and Regional Development and in March 1988 (following a reorganisation of ministry portfolios) he became Minister of Energy, a post he held until January 1991.
Over the next seven years he was instrumental in establishing the National Oil Corporation, the building of National Oil storage facilities near Nairobi and connecting them to the Mombasa refinery, and extending the pipeline from Nairobi to Kisumu and Eldoret. This period that saw rapid advances in efforts to improve Kenya’s electricity supply and delivery with a rural electrification programme, work beginning on the Sondu Mirei Dam, and the completions of the Masinga Multi Purpose Dam, the Kiambere Hydro Electric Dam and the Turkwell Hydro Electric Multi Purpose Dam.
Minister of East African and Regional Co-operation
Although he remained a Member of Parliament, Biwott held no position in the Government of Kenya from 1991 until he re-entered government as Minister of State in the Office of the President of East Africa in 1997 before, in January 1998, he established and was appointed Minister of the new Ministry of East African and Regional Co-operation (1998–1999).
Nicholas Biwott played a central role in COMESA – the Common Market for East and Central Africa, coordinating with COMESA partner Ministers legislation for an East African Road network, legislation for an East African Legislative Assembly, and becoming Chairman of both COMESA and of the East Africa Council of Ministers.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Tourism and East African Cooperation
In September 1999 Biwott’s ministerial portfolio was expanded when he became Minister of Trade and Industry, Tourism and East African Cooperation (1999–2001), a post he held for the next three years during which he established a Tourist Trust Fund with the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, set up the Tourist Police and re-introduced the East Africa Safari Rallies.
Biwott's promotion of Kenyan tourism met with some praise. He was variously described as "the hardest working minister of tourism Kenya has ever had" and as "the best minister of tourism in 25 years".
In May 2001 (following a further reorganisation of Ministry responsibilities) Nicholas Biwott continued as the Minister of Trade and Industry and East African Tourism (2001–2002). Over the next eighteen months he established the Small Medium Trade Trust Fund with the European Union, introduced an Intellectual Property bill which was passed as an Act, accomplished a free trade area with COMESA, established the Africa Trade Insurance Agency to cover foreign investments against political risk, and served as Chairman of the African Caribbean Pacific Group (ACP) at the World Trade Organisation.
Businessman
Nicholas Biwott leads an active business life and is regarded as one of Kenya's most successful entrepreneurs.As a teenager in the late 1950s Biwott worked alongside his father who had established a successful fruit and vegetable business in Eldoret. The young Biwott also borrowed small amounts of money from a local bank with which to expand his own business sideline selling meat products and eggs. Nicholas Biwott continued to expand his own business and in the late 1960s formed ABC Foods selling food and animal feed products.
Within a few years Nicholas Biwott was able to invest in farms and businesses, taking advantage of the post-independence banking policies at the time by which Kenyans were granted loans on favourable terms. In 1969, aged 29, Biwott purchased the Eldoret Town International Harvester (IH) dealership (now FMD trading as Lima Ltd). He also purchased a dairy farm in the same year, started an importer exporter business in 1972, purchased two wheat farms in 1974, invested in the sole agency for IH in Kenya for agricultural tractors and implements in 1975, and purchased a local air operator in 1977 (now Air Kenya).
Biwott's business philosophy of purchasing small or failing businesses, investing and re-investing in them over many years, appears to have paid dividends. He is now regarded as one of Kenya's wealthiest businessmen.
Biwott's businesses in Kenya employ thousands of people and one company of which he is the major shareholder, has for many years been listed among Kenya's top 10 corporate taxpayers.
Philanthropist
Since 1980 Nicholas Biwott has been a member and trustee both of the Management Committee and the Advocacy, Publicity and Fundraising Committee of The National Fund for the Disabled of Kenya.Biwott continues to expand and develop the scope of his charitable work, most recently in 2008 establishing the Mbegu Trust (go to Mbegu Trust) ‘to develop education and opportunity in Kenya’.
Nicholas Biwott is on record over the last 40 years of supporting many projects in the areas of education, health and medicine, and assisting small businesses.
Educational projects
Nicholas Biwott has raised and contributed funds for the building of some 16 schools, serving as Chairman of the Board for many of them.
He has built and funded two of these schools in their entirety:
- The Biwott Secondary School
- The Maria Soti Educational Centre
The Maria Soti Educational Centre, a model school for girls from all backgrounds and areas of Kenya, has been built near Eldoret by Nicholas Biwott as a tribute to his mother.
He has also raised and contributed funds for the building and expansion of:
- Tambach Teachers Training College (and currently serves as Chairman of the Board)
- The Flax Polytechnic
- The Chepsirer Polytechnic
- The Chepkorio Polytechnic
Nicholas Biwott is also a founder and Patron of the Keiyo South Education Foundation that provides bursaries to needy students from primary to post secondary education.
Funding health and medicine
In the area of health and medicine Nicholas Biwoot has raised and contributed funds for the building of Sub District Hospitals including;
- The Kaptarakwa Sub District Hospital
- The Kacholwo Sub District (Maternity) Hospital
The building or expansion of Health Centres, including;
- Chepkorio Health Centre
- Kapmwosor Health Centre
- Muskut Health Centre
The building of Dispensaries, including;
- The Kiptulos Dispensary
- The Lelboinet Dispensary
- The Flax Dispensary
- The Simotwo Dispensary
- The Kipsaos Dispensary
- The Chang’ach Barak Dispensary (venomous bites)
- The Chang’ach Barak Dispensary (general)
- The Cheplooch Dispensary
Controversy
Nicholas Biwott’s name has been raised, ‘perhaps unfairly’ by his detractors both inside and outside Kenya regarding several controversies all which have date their origins to the years 1990-91. His supporters maintain that the allegations, none of which have ever been proved, arose from the campaign at the time to introduce multi-party democracy in Kenya coupled with Biwott’s association with President Moi.Biwott was named by Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
detective John Troon as a person of interest in the 1990 murder of Kenya's Foreign Affairs minister Robert Ouko. Troon’s theories and the basis for them as to the motives for the murder have since been criticized.
Ten government officials, including Biwott, were held in police custody for questioning for two weeks in November 1991 but a Kenyan Police investigation concluded that there was no 'evidence to support the allegations that Biwott was involved in the disappearance and subsequent death of the late minister Dr. Robert John Ouko'.
To date, the allegation that Biwott was involved in the murder of Dr Robert Ouko has never been factually substantiated.
In 2000, a Nairobi court awarded Mr Biwott record damages of Sh30 million arising from a case in which he sued the British forensic expert Dr Ian West and others for linking him to the Ouko murder. Earlier Biwott won Sh10 million from Bookpoint, a popular Nairobi bookshop, for stocking copies of the book Dr Ian West’s Casebook.
In 1993 the ‘Goldenberg scandal’ came to light when the Kenyan government was found to have subsidised exports of gold by paying a company, Goldenberg International Ltd (GIL), 35 percent more (in Kenyan shillings) than the foreign currency earnings supposedly derived from the sale of gold., a scheme had begun in 1991 and is estimated to have cost Kenya the equivalent of more than 10 percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product. A Commission of Inquiry headed by Mr Justice Bosire reported its findings in October 2005 stating that Sh158.3 billion [$2.1 billion] of Goldenberg money had been transacted through 487 companies and individuals. 1,559 ‘Adverse Notices’ were issued against companies and individuals but although Nicholas Biwott was included on that list he was only mentioned directly or indirectly in three of the reports 847 paragraphs and the report, together with subsequent revelations would seem to absolve Biwott of any involvement in the scandal.
The Report of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry into the Goldenberg Affair (to which Nicholas Biwott was not summons to appear) states on para 511 that Lima Limited, of which Biwott was shareholder and director, was 'said (to) have received Kshs.6,300,000.00 [$84,000] from GIL'. However, it was subsequently revealed that the payment to Lima Ltd, a company that sold farm machinery and equipment, was made not from GIL but by Tandui Estates Ltd for the purchase of farm equipment, including a number of tractors and other machinery. Paragraph 693 of the same report mentions Biwott in conjunction with a payment of KShs. 6,000,000 [$80,000], which involved Trade Bank Ltd, Pan-African Bank Ltd and Liabilities of H.Z. & Co. Ltd. The Commission concluded however, that 'no moneys of Goldenberg were involved'.
Nicholas Biwott has been banned from entering the United States and the United Kingdom. The US Government has never made public the reason for the ban or evidence in support of the decision. Biwott is now but one name on a long list of Kenyan politicians and civil servants seen as anti-reformist or too associated with the Moi era, banned from travel to the United States and the UK including most recently, in October 2009, Kenya's Attorney General Amos Wako, in what has been described by Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetang'ula as "megaphone diplomacy".