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Jun 8, 2020 • 18 tweets • 6 min read
Whether it's the sugar in your tea, the water you buy off the shelves, the electricity that you use, your plate of rice at lunch time or even the bouquet of flowers nearest you, chances are it's connected to the Rai family
1/
 A thread
nation.co.ke/dailynation/ne…
2/
 Family patriarch Tarlochan Singh Rai made his fortune after buying tea and coffee estates in Zaire (now DR Congo) from Belgians who were leaving in 1963.

sde.co.ke/thenairobian/a…
3/
 When it comes to sugar, data from the Sugar Directorate indicates the company has grown its market share to 30% as of 2019.

They own West Kenya Sugar (Kabras), Sukari Industries and Olepito Sugar Company

standardmedia.co.ke/article/200129…

businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/comp…
4/
 In 2018, West Kenya imported more than 21mn kilos of brown sugar through their agent, Siginon Group Limited, a company associated with Kanu era barons including the Mois.

In 2017, expenditure on sugar imports was estimated at Sh61.5 bn

nation.co.ke/news/Rai-famil…
5/
 This importation was the subject of heated debate and claims of bribery in the bathrooms in parliament

Outrage greeted accusations that MPs had been paid to shoot down a report on imported sugar that cost Kenyans Sh10 billion in lost taxes

nation.co.ke/news/Fury-over…
6/
 On water, the family owns Aquamist following an acquisition in 2018

Menengai Group was started in 1988 by Mr P.D. Shah and his father D.K. Shah. The Rai Group, took over ownership in 2011 following a buyout.

businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/comp…
7/
 In Timber, the family is associated with Timsales, which along with sister company, Rai cement recently won tenders to supply Kenya Power with both wooden and concrete poles

businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/comp…
8/
 Muhoho Kenyatta sits on the board of Timsales Holdings Image
9/
 In June 2018, President Kenyatta appointed Jaswant Rai to the board of the Kenya Forestry Service.

capitalfm.co.ke/news/2018/06/p…
10/
 Barely two months later, we learned that CAK had thwarted Jaswant Rai’s bid to gain control of government forests in 2017.

Rai Paper had requested for exclusive rights in Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans-Nzoia, Nandi, Kakamega and Bungoma.

businessdailyafrica.com/news/How-Rai-l…
11/
 The family also owns Pan Paper Mills, Webuye, which was opened by President Kenyatta in 2016 Image
12/
 They purchased the business for Sh900mn in what was widely seen as a shady contract as the business was valued at Sh18 billion at the time it was placed under receivership

standardmedia.co.ke/article/200020…
13/
 In cooking oils, the family owns Menengai Oil Refineries Ltd which manufactures and distributes Top Fry Vegetable Cooking Oil, Karibu and Somo Vegetable Cooking Fats, Menengai Cream and Kibuyu Bar Soaps as well as Menendazi Baking Powder.

menengai.com/our-heritage.h…
14/
 When rice producer Dominion Farms was placed in liquidation due to supplier debts of Sh27.6mn and Sh350mn owned to over 300 workers, the Rai Group snapped it up.

nation.co.ke/news/Rai-billi….
15/
 Dominion had had a long running feud with former PM Raila Odinga, whom the firm's CEO, Calvin Burgess, associated with extortion, violence and eviction threats.

standardmedia.co.ke/article/200122…
16/
 In 1984, Moi forcibly took over a 53-acre piece of land owned by ex-chief Noah Kipngeny Chelugui. 24 years later, he sold it to a firm owned by the Jaswant Rai family, Rai Plywood; which has occupied the land since 2007

africanews.com/2019/05/17/ex-…
17/
 In its report, The Looting of Kenya under President Moi, Wikileaks reported that Moi once owned 6% of Rai Plywood.

wikileaks.org/wiki/KTM_report
16b/
Moi was fined Sh1bn for his troubles.

monitor.co.ug/News/National/…

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More from @surambaya

Sura Mbaya Profile picture
Dec 6, 2020
Nelson Mandela once declared that Ethiopia held a special place in his imagination.

Indeed, the land of coffee, ancient architecture and a resilient people does carry a certain mystique… and a very long, torturous history.

1/
 --Long Thread--

[Pic: Children of the Omo Valley]
2/
 See, Mandela spent two weeks in July 1962 in Ethiopia where he learned the tricks of guerilla warfare from Col Fekadu Wakene, a corporal in the riot battalion of the Ethiopian police force at the time.

Mandela was in Ethiopia by invitation of Emperor Haile Selassie I.
3/
 At 1.1mn km², a population of 110mn & 80 ethnic groups, Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, having come into existence circa 980 BCE.

Most intriguing is the nation’s ancient links to Islam, and Christianity, which was declared a state religion in 330 CE.
Read 50 tweets
Sura Mbaya Profile picture
Oct 25, 2020
In 1899, Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness, described events in the Congo as “the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience”

Little did he know.

1/
 The story of the Congo is one of untold suffering and spectacular plunder.

---Long Thread---
2/
 Home to the 2ⁿᵈ largest rainforest (65% forest cover) & 2ⁿᵈ largest river in the world, the DRC is roughly the size of Western Europe with a pop'n of 84mn and a GDP of $50bn.

The value of Congo’s natural resources is estimated at $24tn, greater than the US’ $20tn GDP.
3/
 Africa’s 2ⁿᵈ largest country has 10% of the world’s copper, 30% of diamonds, 80% of Coltan, 50% of Cobalt and 12% of hydro-electric capacity.

Mining ($11.6bn) accounted for 95% of exports, 28% of revenue, 20% of GDP & 11% of the workforce in 2016.

britannica.com/place/Democrat…
Read 50 tweets
Sura Mbaya Profile picture
Oct 11, 2020
The story of Col John Ainsworth

1/
 When Nairobi started under Ainsworth, the first municipal budget was 7,161 rupees (± Sh150K), which only paid for the uniforms and salaries of 6 Swahili and 8 Indian policemen, 2 sweepers, and oil for street lights.

nation.africa/kenya/news/pol…
2/
 Called from Machakos to serve as a top civil servant at the swampy town populated more by wild animals than by European settlers, Ainsworth arrived in Nairobi in 1899 at age 25.

Born in 1864 in the UK he died in 1964, at 100 years old.

[Nairobi in 1898]
3/
 Prior to his arrival, British land surveyors had already come to Kenya and identified much of the fertile land as “unpopulated” and ripe for colonial settlement.

There was no knowledge among the Europeans of African land ownership, such as the Kikuyu system of gethaka
Read 15 tweets
Sura Mbaya Profile picture
Sep 30, 2020
First, it was decided the project will be initiated as a public-private partnership (PPP) to escape procurement scrutiny that comes with open tenders.

1/
 A short thread on organised crime in government

nation.africa/kenya/news/sh6…
2/
 As soon as the project was approved, they quickly abandoned the PPP and started an international open tender.

The tenders were then crafted in such a way that a select number of local companies were looped in through the backdoor as subcontractors of original manufacturers.
3/
 Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, who was in charge of the health docket when the contracts were awarded, and Dr Muraguri, disowned an inflated price list submitted by his successor Sicily Kariuki, according to the parliamentary report. The two gave their own price lists
Read 15 tweets
Sura Mbaya Profile picture
Sep 23, 2020
The Postal Corporation of Kenya, PCK or Posta, is the oldest parastatal in Kenya having been founded in 1901 as the Postal Services of British EA (PSBEA).

Over the years however, Posta has faced unending troubles due to corruption and mismanagement.

1/
---A postal thread---
2/
 In 1910, PSBEA offered savings accounts and later evolved into Postbank Credit.

In 1994, the bank collapsed with Sh3.8bn in deposits and Sh3.6bn in loans, due to bad debts owed by connected individuals like Cyrus Jirongo.

businessdailyafrica.com/news/Jirongo-s….
3/
 By 1930 PSBEA was earning revenues of £222,115 against expenses of £181,267 - i.e. it was profitable.

There were even efforts to grow African customers for the Post Office Savings bank. They numbered 1,187 at the time.

libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/ilharvest/Afri…

[GPO Mombasa built 1890]
Read 25 tweets
Sura Mbaya Profile picture
Sep 21, 2020
In the 1977/78 fiscal year, Dr Nataverbhai Patel's Anpi Pharma and related outfits were awarded tenders for Sh80mn of MoH’s Sh150mn budget for drugs.

They either undersupplied or billed without supplying.

1/
 Of cartels, drugs and elections...

nation.africa/kenya/news/ori…
2/
 Anpi Pharma would under-quote to win the tender then after winning, would come back and state:

“freight charges and cost of materials have gone up. I want to vary the tender.”
3/
 Before Kemsa, there was the Central Medical Stores ran by a Zachariah Shimechero, a Deputy Commissioner of Police at independence and later the Commissioner of Settlement of Squatters.

nation.africa/kenya/news/zac…
Read 12 tweets

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