In every corner of this county, Kiambu town – and county – is known for all the bad reasons.
Nothing
illustrated this to me more than what I witnessed after college when I
was sent to work in the Rift Valley. After a brief struggle, and through
the help of a friend, I got a house to rent in Langalanga estate,
Nakuru town.
Mid-month, when the landlord, a man from
Nyeri, learnt that my ancestral home was Kiambu, he politely asked me to
leave. He offered no explanation. He did not even want to be paid for
the days I had lived in his house.
Later, he was to
tell my friend that he could not house “a thug” from Kiambu because
sooner or later the thug would be planning to steal both the house and
the plot it was built on.
This is the general attitude
towards Kiambu people, hence the famous phrase “Kiambu mafia”. To many
Kenyans, Kiambu people are either mikora (thugs) or itonga cia Kiambu
(Kiambu tycoons), or both.
For those who know Kiambu
people well, this attitude is not far-fetched, for Kiambu people talk
money, sleep money, dream money and wake up money.
No one in Kiambu town will entertain you for five minutes if you are not talking about money deals.
Sociologists
will tell you that when a certain society is controlled by money and
materialism, the result is social stratification. This much evident in
Kiambu.
All the super rich live in Runda estate, which
is seven kilometres from Kiambu town, or around Village Inn Hotel,
where we have Galot and Muthithi estates
.
.
The middle
class of Kiambu live around Kirigiti stadium in up coming estates and in
Thindigua estate, off Nairobi-Kiambu road. The lowlies and the rest
are congested around Mwandus estate and all around Kiambu town.
SOCIALISATION
For
socialisation, Kiambu tycoons can be found at the Kiambu Golf Club or
Kiambu Senior Members Club, the only clubs in the town. The middle class
normally unwind at Red Nova Hotel, Amani Hotel, Kangangi Bar, Makuti
Bar and the recently launched The Office and Kungu’s joints.
Behind
Kangangi market and along the main stage, you will find the hoi polloi
sipping their favourite keg beer, often laced with cheap spirits.
Their
joints include Moonlight bar popularly known as Gatiri or Kwa
Ng’ang’a’, The London Eye, The Royal Options (you get the irony, right?)
and Safari Dogo also known as Kwa Mararo.
Is there
anything good to say about Kiambu? Yes, Kiambu prides itself in having
produced prominent leaders. Founding President Jomo Kenyatta and the
current President Kenyatta, his son, were born in Gatundu, Kiambu.
Besides,
did you know that Attorney-General Githu Muigai, Deputy
Solicitor-General Muthoni Kimani are from Kiambu? They come from a small
village called Gatitu in Ndumberi location of the county, and so are Mr
Kimani Mathu and his wife Eunice Mathu of Parents magazine, and Mr
Peter Kahuho, the man at the centre of the recent controversial
appointment at the Lands ministry.
Other prominent
personalities from the same village are KBC managing director Waithaka
Waihenya and former BBC broadcaster Joseph Warungu.
Kiambu
boasts the best national schools, namely Alliance High School and
Alliance Girls, Loreto School, and Limuru Girls High School. However,
its academic performance is pathetic and it is only second to Murang’a
county in dismal performance in the whole of the former Central
Province. The region’s sleeping giants include Kanunga High School,
Kiambu Secondary School, Senior Chief Koinange High School and the
famous Kiambu High School. One can only hope that one day they will wake
up.
However, one notable educational landmark in
Kiambu town is the famous Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology
(KIST) which is now an affiliate of Kenyatta University.
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