Lugari MP and running mate to ODM Kakamega gubernatorial Ayub Savula candidate Fernandes Barasa, has past moments to reminisce.
Born of Mzee Arthur Angatia, who once was a village elder and then a pastor of the Church of God, Savula, popularly known as the ‘crocodile’ in political circles, looks back to the first day he visited Kenya’s capital city in one among his humblest days.
- Follow us on Twitter
Born in Manyonyi Village in Lugari Sub-County in March 1978 in a family of 13, Savula remembers the first day he visited Nairobi for the first time in 1996.
Having just finished high school and now in the biggest city in East Africa, Savula could not hold his breath to admire the Nairobi of the 90s.
“Seeing the tall buildings and the beautiful streets made feel me I was in heaven. I was brought up in the village so you can imagine how amazed I was by the infrastructure in the city,” Savula told the Standard.
Savula and his brother had visited the capital city to pick up a recommendation letter from the then Minister for Finance, Musalia Mudavadi.
“I needed a job before I joined college. The experience was fantastic. After that day, I went back to the village only to come back in 2005 when The Standard Media Group, transferred me from Kisumu to Nairobi, I was then a journalist,” he said.
Savula’s first work station was the I&M building in the CBD, where he served as a correspondent.
“I got a small single room in Mbotela Estate in Eastlands. I thought I would love Nairobi but woe unto me, the insecurity in my estate was too much. What I thought was heaven turned to be hell on Earth,” he said.
His experience in Eastlands is somehow horrific, having been robbed at gunpoint at least once. He had to develop a thick skin to survive the Nairobi streets.
“Whenever it got dark before I got home, I had to go pick armed cops from Jogoo Road Police Station just to escort me home. In Mbotela, we were robbed almost every night unless one was a ‘local’ known widely, born and bred in mtaa, nobody was safe,” he said.
Savula stayed in Mbotela for some time then later on moved to Ngong Road after his salary increased, then to Kileleshwa. He later relocated to Runda. He now has another house in Karen.
Discover the pulse of Western Kenya with WKT – your go-to digital media platform for real-time updates, rich perspectives, and powerful stories that matter.
