Kalembe’s tongue could get him anything, including in and out of a heap of trouble

Family and friends carrying the casket bearing the body of the late former Kibwezi Mp Kalembe Ndile when the body arrived at his Mbui Nzau home in Makueni [Courtesy]

After leading an eventful political life, a limping Kalembe Ndile spent his last days by his man-made beach in Machakos, brooding over his scores and losses spanning 57 years.

Aptly named “Machakos Beach”, Ndile crammed the little place with all manner of birds – from ducks to ostriches, and from turkeys to guinea fowls. He relished in feeding them, and watching the ducks floating in the “ocean” he created on the river.

An eventful but short life, Ndile rose from a son of a squatter to councillor, chairman of a county council, aMP, assistant minister, party leader to a director of a parastatal. He scraped it all by sheer hard work, sweat of his brow and, some say, a long tongue.