William Chepkut: Politician smiled and danced in public as auctioneers hovered over his property

William Chepkut addresses the public during the passout ceremony of initiates. [PHOTO: KEVIN TUNOI]

William Chepkut, the immediate former Ainabkoi MP who died on Saturday, October 8 in Nairobi, left this world with the same mystery that defined his life.

Chepkut's early life was spent in the shadows as PA (personal assistant) to the equally shadowy Kanu era powerful cabinet minister, Nicholas Biwott; the man Kenyans nicknamed Total Man, and his Kalenjin people, kirgit - steel.

His journey from penury to the corridors of power began in 1991 when he smashed a TV screen at the Kenya Polytechnic (now Technical University of Kenya), upset that Biwott, a politician he idolised, had been arrested in connection with the murder of Foreign Affairs minister, Robert Ouko. For that act, he was arrested and flung behind bars for destruction of property, only to be released following intervention by Biwott. And so their unlikely journey began - the powerful minister paying his college fees, getting him a scholarship for university education overseas, a job in the civil service as a district officer and later appointing him his PA, for life.

Having studied at the feet of a master, it was only natural that Chepkut would become a politician, which he did following the death of his mentor, Biwott.

Sat and ate with the poor people

And how he loved politics! He danced himself lame, sat and ate with the poor people he represented and made speeches that tickled ribs far and wide, all the while cutting the image of an ordinary mwananchi.

But what most Kenyans would never have guessed is that money and good fortune disowned Chepkut soon after he plunged into politics. Indeed, confidants say his life was better when he was a PA than when he was elected MP. For by the time he was seeking re-election for a second term this August, the poor man was not only drowning in debts but his domestic affairs were in disarray.

As the man smiled and danced in public, auctioneers hovered over his properties due to defaulted loans, he was virtually homeless in Eldoret, and a messy divorce case with Milcah Jepngetich Samoei, his wife of 25 years and mother of his two children, simmered.

Amidst these challenges, Chepkut fell ill and was admitted in hospital months to the General Election. As if that was not enough, Ainabkoi voters, who had elected him as an independent candidate in 2017 against a strong Jubilee Party wave, rejected him at the ballot and chose former MP Samuel Chepkonga. He died before his divorce case was determined.

Marriage had irretrievably broken down

His estranged wife had accused Chepkut of cruelty, emotional and psychological neglect and infidelity. She prayed to the court to dissolve the marriage.

"On several other occasions, the respondent has admitted to having affairs with other women unknown to the petitioner..... All efforts to reconcile have flatly failed as Chepkut appears to have moved on from the petitioner (and our marriage)," Samoei told the court.

Chepkut, on the other hand, filed a cross-petition (Divorce cause No. 68 of 2021) at the Eldoret Law Courts, and admitted in court on March 14, 2022 that the marriage had irretrievably broken down. At the time of his death, Chepkut was living with his second wife, Patricia.

And then there were his financial woes. Chepkut lost his Royalton Hotel in 2019 after he allegedly defaulted on a loan he borrowed from a local bank, forcing the financial institution to instruct an auctioneer to sell the three-star hotel in a bid to recover the money loaned.

The hotel situated along the busy Eldoret-Nairobi highway in Uasin Gishu was valued at Sh100 million and was one of Chepkut's major sources of income.

Sh10 million bank loan

The bank contracted the services of Watts Auctioneers, which then went ahead to auction the property, claiming the MP had not shown interest in clearing about Sh10 million it owed the bank.

Contacted then by this writer, Chepkut responded: "Yes, I have defaulted on a bank loan, but that does not mean that I have declined to repay the loan."

Kipkorir Menjo, Kenya Farmers Association director, who spoke with Chepkut on Friday evening, hinted that the late former lawmaker was planning to sell a piece of land in Uasin Gishu.

"Chepkut was my good friend, and we often talked. I talked to him on Friday evening, and he sent land documents to facilitate a transaction. We were to meet four days later (on Tuesday) for some business matters, but that did not happen because he left us on Saturday," he said.

A politician, who was close to Chepkut, at one time intervened after auctioneers came for the late former Ainabkoi MP's car over a debt, offering to pay the debt and retain the car as Chepkut repaid him in monthly instalments. Chepkut had not fully paid the MP before his demise, sources privy to the deal disclosed.

The fallout with his first wife also made Chepkut 'homeless' whenever he was in Eldoret. Close allies recall how he chose to sleep at a popular members club in Eldoret, staying away from his home in Elgon View estate, where his estranged wife lived.

Thrown out of the Golf Club rooms

"Life was almost unbearable because he was often thrown out of the Golf Club rooms because he had not paid the subscriptions. Former Kesses MP Swarup Mishra at times intervened for Chepkut to secure a place to spend the night in the club," a confidant told The Nairobian.

How did a man presumed to be fabulously wealthy end up broke?

"Chepkut was excessively generous. He would dish out all his money and start borrowing from friends. He left a home in Nairobi and that is where his wife and children lived.

"He had left his rural residence in Flax (Elgeyo Marakwet) to his elderly mother and had decided to build another one about two kilometres away. It was not complete when he breathed his last," one confidant told this writer.