KALOLENI

Hon. Samuel Kazungu Kambi MP (PNU),


Samuel Kazungu Kambi says he is a go-getter. The Kaloleni MP spent his early life in Kayafungo village, where he was born in 1962. " I often herded goats and almost missed school because of poverty.I always wondered how it would feel to be away from the scorching heat of the grazing fields," he says. His parents enrolled him in Standard One when he was 11, in 1973. "My joy was short-lived, since they could not pay my school fee," he says.His uncle offered him a job as a herder. I worked for four years before getting enough money to go back to school," he says. He was enrolled at Mwijo Primary School.

"I was fascinated by what I learned. I went to Shimo La Tewa Secondary School in 1978 for my O and later A levels," he says. He enrolled at the Kenya Polytechnic for Business Management after a brief stint at Mbooni Boys Secondary School as an untrained teacher. He worked for Post Bank as a clerk and rose to become the loans manager of Post Bank Credit. Kambi ventured into oil marketing and his life has never been the same again. Apart from being the MP for Kaloleni, he is the executive chairman of Riva Oils company, which has branches in Tanzania and Uganda and Zambia.

The MP says Kaloleni is a rich constituency and he is ready to help the locals tap wealth. To address poverty, Kambi has teamed up with a donors to find market for coconut by-products. He says, research found out that if the local people had control of the palm wine, coconut, makuti, and other by-products, the constituency could make more than Sh3 million per day."We want to control the price of palm wine. We want to stop exploitation by middlemen," says Kambi. The MP says Kaloleni Bus Service has been registered and will be owned and managed by Kaloleni people.

"I want to instil business enterprise spirit among my people. We can make money in the village instead of flocking to towns," Kambi says.Using his network in the oil sub sector, Kambi says he has friends willing to transform the constituency. The MP says Sh40m has been set aside for water distribution. He is exploring ways of marketing milk and other livestock products. Several water pan sites have been identified in Tsangatsini. Kambi was Kanu’s point man at the Coast for several years. In 1992 he campaigned for former President Moi. "When Moi won, Kanu nominated me as a councillor but I declined the offer," he says.Again in 1997, Kambi was the Kanu coordinator and the party won majority seats in the region.In 2002, he differed with the party when it chose Mr Uhuru Kenyatta as the presidential candidate.

"I, however, contributed to the party’s campaigns. I was nicknamed Kazungu Pesa because I funded the party’s activities and rallies across the region," says Kambi. The MP claims he joined politics to protest at poor leadership. "I funded these politicians but none of them delivered services as agreed,"Kambi says.The MP says he helped construct Ngala Memorial, St Johns Girls and Kadzodzo Girls secondary schools. His company, Riva Oils, has sponsored six students to various public universities.

Kaloleni has no roads, lacks health facilities and education standards are very low. Kambi first got married in 1989 to Janet Ngala and has five children. The late Janet was daughter to Ronald Ngala.Immediate former MP: Hon. Morris Dzoro, EGH, Minister for Tourism,The area was and previously served as Assistant Minister Office of the PresidentOther former MPs of the area includes, the late Hon. Mathias Keah, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Finance.

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Sources: THE STANDARD
Story by: Ngumbao Kithi