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The Big Brother Behind Anyona's Success

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Published on Saturday, 02 June 2007 06:48

Until he burst into the limelight after successfully seeking a court order stopping the burial of his younger brother and former Kitutu Masaba MP George Anyona, the name Stephenson Mageto was not known by many Kenyans. Although largely keeping to the shadows, Mr Mageto is a prominent and respected figure in the Moseti family. Some credit him with playing a crucial role in propelling his younger brother to the political limelight.

Mr Anyona was to many people in Kitutu Masaba "an elder son" of Mr Mageto, who took over as head of the Moseti family of five brothers and four sisters soon after the death of their father. Using his meagre earnings as a public health officer and a tea farmer, Mr Mageto saw Mr Anyona through Tombe Primary School, Alliance High School and Makerere University in Uganda. He also financed Mr Anyona's budding political career in 1969, which started with a failed bid for the Kitutu Masaba seat in 1969. He finally won the seat in 1974, but his first term was cut short by his first stint in detention without trial two years later.

Mr Anyona finally made it back to Parliament with the advent of multi-partyism in 2002 on the ticket of the Kenya Social Congress. Widely known to be stubborn and independent, Mr Anyona, however, never made a move without first consulting his elder brother. According to one family member, Mr Anyona and Mr Mageto shared more secrets than they did with their wives and other family members.

When Mr Anyona insisted on going it alone with the KSC, spurning entreaties from the mainstream opposition parties, particularly Ford Kenya, for a united front, Mr Mageto turned out to be one of the beneficiaries. The party nominated him commissioner to the expanded Electoral Commission of Kenya as part of the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group reform package in 1997. On December 5 when Mr Mageto moved to the court to seek an injunction against the burial of his better-known younger brother, many were perplexed. Mr Anyona's burial had earlier been delayed by the fact that a house had to be constructed for him. While the construction was going on, Mr Mageto remained aloof from the activities of a funeral committee in Nairobi chaired by former Runyenjes MP Njeru Kathangu. Most current MPs from Kisii were on the committee, which was also supported by Mr Anyona's widow, Esther, and their eldest son, Kwame.

It was only when the committee had finally agree on a burial date and was preparing to move the body from Nairobi to Kisii that Mr Mageto obtained a court injunction. "We do not want our late brother to buried with any dirt smeared on him by political detractors and critics and that is precisely why we have moved to court," Mr Mageto said in reference to claims that his brother had failed to account for some Sh2.3 million raised six years ago at Tombe Primary School. Mr Anyona was the patron of the Chabumba Women's Group, to which 582 groups were affiliated. The applause with which Mr Mageto's speech was received as he removed the casket containing his brother's body from their Gatuta home and the escort accorded the convoy to the local mortuary showed where the local sentiments lay.