By Anderson Ojwang
As a young, budding broadcasting journalist, his reverberating voice echoed in every corner of the country, homes, and various social gatherings during the KBC English Bulletin News. Mr Raphael Tuju did not indulge in the pleasure and pleasantries that come with journalism.
Despite the growing fame and celebrity status in the media industry, Tuju was never lured into plunging himself into the new world order of affluence, power, and might, as most journalists often do.
But he did the unthinkable—something most of his community members feared to engage in at that time. A journey that most of his fellow journalists gave a wide berth to, preferring instead to dine and wine with the high and mighty in the country’s political and economic elite circles at exclusive high-end joints.
Tuju decided to write his own story at the age of 27—a story that has given him happiness and pain in equal measure. Just like the song written by Fanny S. Cosby, Blessed Assurance, Tuju has drawn his strength in all the battles he has faced from this song. As in the chorus of Blessed Assurance, Tuju’s story is so telling:
“This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.”
At 27, Tuju defied the odds to become one of the few journalists to own a prime parcel of land in the upmarket, leafy Karen estate.
“It has been an ‘attempted robbery’, but God’s grace has prevailed so far. I bought my first piece of land in Karen when I was still broadcasting in 1986.
I was 27 years old, and land was, at the time, selling for KSh100,000 per acre. I took a loan from National Bank, courtesy of the then manager, Mildred Owuor, and Abel Muriithi.
Whatever I have today is the sum total of 38 years of toil. I never got a government land allocation, nor did I grab any.
I survived a plane crash, an auto accident, and not to mention a political crash in Rarieda. Viewed from those lenses, the Dari case is really nothing,” he says.
Tuju was among the top government officials involved in a plane accident in Busia in 2002. He lived to tell his story and to protect his family from adversaries.
The crash killed Labour Minister Ahmad Khaliff and the two pilots, while Tuju, two other ministers, and several Members of Parliament were seriously injured.
The 24-seater Gulfstream aircraft crashed into a house after snagging a power line on takeoff from Busia in far western Kenya, according to government officials who witnessed the accident from the ground.
Tuju also cheated death when his vehicle was involved in a head-on collision in Kijabe while he was on his way to the burial of former President Daniel Moi at his Kabarak home.
From accidents to political battles, the former Foreign Affairs Minister has also been embroiled in a dispute with a bank over his prime property. Finally, he sees light at the end of the tunnel following a warrant of arrest issued by a Nairobi court for a senior bank manager (name withheld) for giving false information in the case.
In a statement, Tuju wrote:
“This afternoon, a warrant of arrest has been issued for a senior official of (bank name withheld). The criminal charges against (name withheld) and the bank stem from lies that were peddled by the bank to the DCI against myself, my children, and our company, Dari Limited. Some of the lies were also entrenched in the bank’s affidavits to the Supreme Court of Kenya and other courts in Kenya and the UK.
Apart from entrenching the lies in the courts, the malicious reports were an attempt to criminalise an otherwise civil matter. It was also an attempt to intimidate me in the grand scheme to scandalise my name before stealing our properties.”
Tuju said the bank’s official lawyer went to court on Tuesday evening in an attempt to stop the banker’s arrest.
According to Tuju, on 11, 12, and 31 July 2024, during an affidavit submission in open court, a bank manager from the said bank admitted under oath that their colleague had lied in both Kenyan and UK courts.
*”The bank’s country manager even recanted the affidavit that was sworn against us on behalf of the bank before the Supreme Court of Kenya (SCOK).
In the meantime, the SCOK had issued rulings in favour of the bank based on lies and statements that were later recanted by its officials. Despite our pleas that the bank official be cross-examined, the Supreme Court mysteriously declined to take this important piece of evidence.*
It should be of interest that the case filed by Nelson Havi seeking the removal of Supreme Court judges cites our Dari Limited case as one of the grounds for their removal,” Tuju noted.
“The recusal by the bench of five judges has no precedent in Commonwealth law and is also currently the subject of litigation in other fora,” he wrote.
From his experience, Tuju has now formed a platform to protect orphans and vulnerable people with land issues, helping them find solutions to their woes.
“I am blessed that I have been able to put up a spirited fight both in Kenya and in the UK courts.
During this odyssey, I have been approached by many orphans, widows, and other helpless people who have lost family property or are on the verge of losing their property due to such malfeasance.*
Together with my family and a few friends, today I launch the formation of a Land Protection Forum (LPF). I am providing a WhatsApp number (0708293936) where any Kenyan facing the threat of losing their hard-earned family land or property through corruption should seek justice.
On this number, any Kenyan can contact the forum to share their ordeal, and where I can, I will do all I can to help, especially widows and orphans caught up in this crisis,”* he wrote.
“Crooks should not be allowed to reign with such abandon. Through this forum, which will have its inaugural meeting in a few weeks, we will give a voice to many who are suffering silently.“
