By JOE KIARIE
They mournfully recall the last moments they shared with him.
On the morning of Saturday, June 2, leaders of the Ongata Rongai Muungano Women’s Group in Kajiado North constituency received news their MP was to tour Magadi Soda for an impromptu peace meeting.
With Internal Security minister George Saitoti as their patron and a signatory to their bank account, and with some emergency cash withdrawal required to complete a construction project they were undertaking, they decided they had to secure his signature.
Armed with a Sh1 million cheque, seven members of the construction sub-committee travelled to Kiserian and waylaid Prof Saitoti at the Magadi-Isinya junction. When his convoy approached, they waved him down. The motorcade stopped and Saitoti opened his door with a smile.
“Alisema kwamba ukiona wamama hapa jua wanataka dawa. Alituambia leteni cheki haraka na mseme ni pesa ngapi. (He said if you see women here, know that they require some medicine. He told us to bring the cheque fast and say how much money we wanted),” recounts Beatrice Muthoni, who chairs the women group’s sub-committee.
Planned visit
And as the convoy zoomed off, Muthoni recollects how the minister casually promised to soon visit the construction site and evaluate the progress. Little did they know they were seeing their beloved patron for the last time, and that the planned visit was never to be.
While this illustrates Saitoti’s close involvement in women’s groups, it only tells half the story. Saitoti’s legacy in Kajiado North, the larger Maasailand, and other parts of the country, was his support and guidance to women, who he deemed key to development.
In his constituency, he helped establish and prop hundreds of women’s groups, with the main aim being to help women feed and educate children. It is for this reason that most of the women are having nightmares trying to cope with his death.
Ruth Wakaba, the chairperson of the Ongata Rongai Muungano Women Group, an umbrella union for 41 small women’s group strewn all over Ongata Rongai, says Saitoti’s efforts to empower women were second to none. She explains that this started in the late 1980s when he would regularly give cash handouts to women.
But she explains that this never worked and it is then that the fallen minister turned to co-operatives and income-generating projects for women groups. The approach gave women a source of income.
“Starting 1990, he advised women to form groups and conducted a lot of harambees (fundraisers) to help them establish diverse projects. He always insisted we use the proceeds to educate our children,” says Mrs Wakaba, who Saitoti nominated as a councillor before she was eventually voted in as a civic leader in 2002.
At the moment, there are hundreds of women’s groups in the constituency, particularly in Magadi, Ongata Rongai, Enosoorua, Kiserian, Ngong, Ewaso, Isinya and Kitengela.
“Saitoti started uniting us in the form of women’s groups in 1992. He wanted us to have self-help groups and income generating projects. He wanted us to educate our children,” she says.
Today, some organisations such as the Ngong Muungano Women Group owns buildings that sit on prime land, and which give them considerable income.
Bank account
Wakaba recounts that for the Ongata Rongai Muungano Women Group, the more than 1,000 member group she has chaired since 1992, Saitoti personally acquired a piece of land and opened a bank account for them in 1994.
Stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter
The group now owns the building rented out to several Government corporations and institutions. They are now constructing the first floor on the planned four-storey building. Muthoni, who is also the chairperson of Sossion Women Group, recalls how Saitoti used to follow their progress.
“At our meetings, he would comfortably sit in between the members without fear. In our midst, he seemed to feel safe and gave the women a real sense of belonging,” she says.
She explains that Saitoti was a joint signatory to their bank account alongside the chairperson and treasure as a way to ensure there was transparency in the use of funds.
“He even oversaw the sharing of dividends to ensure no one was shortchanged,” Muthoni says.
“If we told him we were planning a harambee in two months, he would respond instantly and advise that we hold it in two weeks. He would come with top guests and help us raise millions of shillings.
The last harambee was held in December and he helped us raise Sh3 million,” she said. Apparently, the late minister’s efforts were not in vain as Wakaba says they returned the favour by voting for him as a bloc.
“We supported him throughout. We never looked at the party on whose ticket he was vying, but looked at him as an individual. His politics were based at the grassroots and he was strong on this front,” she says, terming the late minister irreplaceable.
Wakaba and Muthoni say they lack words to explain their grief. “We are deeply struck in our hearts and find it hard to believe he is no more. We will miss him so much,” Muthoni says.
Lucy Koittiko, a Kiserian-based trader, weeps as she recounts her encounters with Saitoti and what he did for her and her village.
“I pray that the Almighty God gives us someone else like him,” says a distraught Koitiko.