I ‘met’ Honorable Biwott three times in 2012. All our meetings took place in the Barclays Bank Plaza on Loita Street, Nairobi. At the time I worked for Barclays Bank.
We were close friends – very close. Some people say we were closer than brothers. Hic.
The first time I met, or saw, the honorable was outside Barclays plaza as I waited for a client on the pavement. An old and beat taxi pulled over and four men came out. Three of them wore black suits while the fourth wore a mixed-and-matched grey blazer and a brown pair of trousers with a briefcase firmly held in his right hand. There is a feeling of familiarity experienced when one meets someone who appears on TV. Naturally, the first instinct is to say hi since one’s mind thinks they are friends but disappointment and hatred sets in after they show total indifference. The quartet disappeared into the building.
The mix-and-match guy was Biwott, the Total Man (the TM)
The second time we met at a staircase. I was descending the flight of stairs from the VIP banking hall while he was ascending. With the same bodyguards tailing him, the TM was walking towards the stairs. I took the first step as the TM was taking his. One body guard wanted to stop me but the TM waved his hand – signaling me to descend first. He stood back and the bodyguards took positions around him.
“Hi,” I said to the TM as I hit the stairs’ base.
One of the bodyguards, a bearded guy with a broken nose, replied,
“Amesalamika.”
Outside the building, at the same spot they alighted from the first time we met, a different taxi, but equally beat and old, was waiting.
The third time I met the TM in the building’s urinals. As I opened the door into the wash rooms, I saw a grey haired man opening his fly and start his business. I walked towards the urinal but a second later the d oor closed in a loud bang. The urinating man was startled. He halted the pee session and quickly retracted his tool and walked out past me. As he sped past, I recognized his face. It was Biwott. He wore a cream khaki trouser and in his haste to keep his tool, some urine dripped down the leg creating a wet trail. I’m not sure whether he closed his fly.
Rumor has it that the amount of money he banked in one day could pay the entire Barclays Bank staff in all the bank’s Nairobi branches. Another rumor was that if he had any altercation or complaint about any employee, the employee was summarily dismissed.
RIP friend.
cc. @Born Tao
