Bonny Khalwale Biography
Bonny Khalwale is a Kenyan politician, the former Senator for Kakamega County, and a former Medical Officer. Bonny Khalwale was chair of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee in the 10th Kenyan Parliament, where he made a reputation for leading censure motions against high profile cabinet ministers.
Bonny Khalwale Age
Bonny Khalwale was born on 5th August 1960 in Kakamega County. He is a Kenyan by nationality.
Bonny Khalwale Education Background
1981 → 1987: Undergraduate Student of University of Nairobi (Doctor of Medicine)
1979 → 1980: Secondary School Student of Kakamega High School (KACE)
1975 → 1978: Primary School Student of Musingu High School (EACE)
1967 → 1974: Primary School Student of Malinya Primary School (CPE)
I married my wife in second year-Kakamega Senator Dr. Bonny Khalwale
I joined the University of Nairobi in 1981 to study medicine. In my second year, I was arrested in a police swoop for participating in the 1982 abortive coup and consequently discontinued for 14 months. Many other students, who may be uncomfortable if I mention their names, suffered the same fate.
The arrest of The East Africa Standard newspaper editor, one George Githii, prompted me to join the protest against victimization of people under the guise of dealing with the coup plotters and sympathizers.
He had been arrested and detained without trial by the Kanu regime. We could not just sit and watch as the nation’s elites were wrongfully being accused and imprisoned. Life in uni wasn’t as hard as in high school. In fact, I was a day-scholar at Musingu High School, and the only student allowed to attend class barefoot because my parents couldn’t afford a pair of shoes for me.
We were given an Sh1,500 stipend, which quite a lot then. Life, as such, was relatively more straightforward, and I could even afford to marry while in the second year. However, my marriage nearly collapsed, since girls would hang around me because I was a politician and the medical school students’ representative. Well, taking a tough course was probably also an attraction.
I nonetheless stuck to my girl, who is today, my wife. At the time, she had dropped out in form two because of me. I, however, made sure she went back to class and is currently working at a local university.
Joining the campus choir or Christian Union was a no-no for politicians like us. Though I was in student politics, I never aspired for major posts like that of the secretary-general or chairman of the students’ university governing body. Back then, we were revered in the nation as students, and whenever we spoke, every government spy paid attention.
We had demonstrations, but never robbed motorists or harassed innocent people. Our protests were about critical national issues, not petty matters.
Bonny Khalwale graduated with a degree in Medicine from the UoN class of 1981.
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Bonny Khalwale First Wife Dies
Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has lost his first wife, Adelaide Shikanga. Adelaide Khalwale collapsed and died on Saturday, 5th October 2019, at their Malinya home in Kakamega, and her body was taken to Mukumu Hospital morgue.
“My wife was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix in 2003. According to him, the 56-year-old mother of four did not die of cervical cancer as she had gone through chemotherapy and surgery and had recovered from it. This year, she contracted cancer of the blood. She had successfully undergone her sixth chemotherapy at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, where it was cleared.
He revealed that his wife had developed cancer of the blood (multiple myeloma) this year and had begun standard treatment, including chemotherapy. On Friday, she developed pulmonary hypertension,” said Dr. Khalwale.
“She completed the course of treatment. Only this week, we went back to the cancer center, we did the profiles of the bone marrow and the blood and confirmed that cancer had been cured by the chemotherapy,” Dr. Khalwale added.
On Thursday, the late Mrs. Khalwale developed pulmonary hypertension and after two days of medication, stopped breathing.
Former Kakamega Senator Speaking at Mukumu Mission Hospital mortuary where the body was moved, the politician said his wife collapsed as she went to the bathroom. Dr. Khalwale said his wife died as he attempted to resuscitate her.
The deceased worked as a secretary at the Department of Education at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kakamega. Adelaide was Khalwale’s wife for 39 years.
Bonny Khalwale Political Career
Current Political Position
11th March 2013 – 2017: Senator for Kakamega
13th February 2013 – Up to date: Coalition Member of Amani (Peace) Coalition
15th January 2013 – Up to date: Member of United Democratic Forum Party (UDF)
Previous Political Positions
2008 → 4th March 2013: Member of Parliament for Ikolomani
2007 → 14th January 2013: Member of New Ford Kenya
2006 → 2007: Assistant Minister of East African Community
2003 → 2007: Member of Parliament for Ikolomani
Bonny Khalwale Committee Membership
2008 → 2012: Chair of Public Accounts Committee
2008 → 2012: Member of Departmental Committee on Health
2008 → 2012: Member of Procedure and House Rules Committee – S.O. 191
2008 → 2012: Member of House Business Committee
Bonny Khalwale Professional Career
1991 → 2002: Doctor of Private Medical Practice in Kakamega
1990 → 1995: Doctor of Private Medical Practice in Mombasa
1988 → 1990: Medical Officer
Bonny Khalwale Election Victory
Dr. Bonny Khalwale’s victory may be interpreted as a boost to the presidential ambitions of Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa, who camped in the constituency to campaign alongside Housing minister Soita Shitanda for the New Ford-K candidate.
Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) chairman Isaack Ahmed Hassan said the results released were provisional as the person mandated to give the final results was the returning officer in Ikolomani. Mr. Hassan commended the officials in Ikolomani for the speedy transmission. He said the results for the ultimate polling center were transmitted to the IIEC electronic tallying center at Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi at precisely 7.57 pm.
“This was the fastest time recorded by IIEC since the introduction of the electronic transmission of election results,” he said. Allegations of bribery and intimidation marked the by-election as voters sought to the right the wrongs that led to the nullification of Dr. Khalwale’s victory in February.
Bonny Khalwale Profile: Is he a political gun for hire or reformist?
The most daring thing he has ever done, says Dr. Bonny Khalwale, the Ikolomani MP, was joining the 1982 abortive coup against the government of former President Daniel Arap Moi. At the time, Dr. Khalwale was a first-year student at the University of Nairobi.
With five colleagues, among them Dr. Shem Ochuodho, Mr. David Murathe, and student leader Titus Adungosi, now deceased, the MP stormed the Voice of Kenya station (now Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) and announced that university students were in full support of the coup.
Dr. Ochuodho and Mr. Murathe became MPs after the start of pluralistic politics.
On August 1, 1982, the coup plotters, among them their leader Hezekiah Ochuka, an Air Force captain, were taken aback at the blind courage of the young men.
Nonetheless, they allowed the students to make their statements to show that their cause had comprehensive support.
“I can’t help but laugh when I think about it today,” says Dr. Khalwale. “I never even thought about the danger I was exposing myself to.”
But he quickly adds that he would willingly put his life on the line again if he believed that it was in the best interest of the nation. “I always act on my convictions.
“I believed what I was doing was the right thing then. And if called upon to rise once again, I shall not fail,” says the 49-year-old father of seven.
That dare-devil act, at the age of 22, earned him a one and half year suspension from the university. But he has no regrets — that bravery launched his political career.
“People at home realized that I had leadership qualities. Perhaps they thought I was a little bit weird, but they gave me a hearing nonetheless,” says the fourth born in a family of 10.
Bonny Khalwale Narc wave
But it was not until 20 years later that he made it to Parliament. He first clinched the Ikolomani seat in 2002 on a Ford Kenya ticket, riding on the Narc wave that swept independence party Kanu from power.
“That victory was the culmination of many years of struggle and hard work. It was indeed a sweet victory for Kenyans who were yearning for radical reforms,” he says.
Prior to winning the seat, he had cut his political teeth as the Western Province coordinator of the National Convention Executive Council, the opposition outfit that pushed for reforms during the Moi era. Being an official of NCEC provided him with an ideal forum to interact and sell his agenda to the people.
Other members of the NCEC at the time included Mr. Mwai Kibaki, Mr. James Orengo, and Prof Kivutha Kibwana.
“Some of these people seemed genuinely concerned to be reforming this country. I cannot say the same of most of them who are in government today,” says Dr. Khalwale.
His most memorable moment as a member of the NCEC occurred in 2000 in Busia Town. Police abruptly disrupted a meeting attended by Mr. Orengo and Mr. Murathe, among other vocal critics of the Moi government.
This intrusion forced them to flee for their lives, abandoning their vehicles as they made for the bushes.
“We walked 20 kilometers through the bush, dodging the police. We were certainly getting lost when a Good Samaritan eventually gave us a lift to safety in Kisumu,” he remembers with a chuckle.
Sadly, their struggles and sacrifices seem to be coming to naught. He noted the continuing grand corruption in the Kibaki era as proof that the ideals they struggled for had not been achieved.
“Our people are disillusioned. If anything has changed, then it can only be for the worse. For those of us who are dedicated to reforming this nation, we realize that the struggle is far from being won.”
It is this realization, he says, that is currently guiding him in Parliament. Perhaps more than any other politician in the Tenth Parliament, Dr. Khalwale has captured the psyche of the nation the most.
His fight against graft in the House has rendered him a political enigma, a political puzzle to crack.
Some people think that this fight is garlanded with deep-seated personal ambitions.
Others wonder whether he is really the reformist he has packaged himself to be, a political mercenary as claimed by some, a champion of the people, or just a rebel without a cause.
Bonny Khalwale Family
Khalwale was born into a peasant family. The son of an industrialist, as he refers to his mother who used to make and sell chang’aa (alcoholic brew) to make ends meets. She attended Malinya Primary School in 1967. Khalwale mentions former Vice-President Kijana Wamalwa, now deceased, as his political mentor.
Bonny Khalwale Politics
He names some of his best friends in Parliament as Gitobu Imanyara, Mithika Linturi, Ekwe Ethuro, Charles Kilonzo, and Kiema Kilonzo.
In this group, he became outspoken against corruption, stepping on the toes of some of the most influential leaders in the country in the process.
He once put then Agriculture minister William Ruto on the spot over the maize scandal when the country was said to have lost more than Sh800 million to briefcase millers and unscrupulous businessmen.
But the most enduring image Kenyans had of the Ikolomani MP as far as fighting corruption is concerned comes from when he moved a motion to censure former Finance minister Amos Kimunya over the controversial sale of the Grand Regency Hotel, renamed Laico Regency.
The speech, with its refrain, “Kimunya must go,” stood out for its passionate nature.
“I do everything I do with a passion. It is therefore straightforward for people to misconstrue me as having a personal agenda,” he said.
Budalang’ i MP Ababu Namwamba, a friend turned the harshest critic, said Dr. Khalwale was a “political gun for hire.
He is not affiliated with any group, which ideally makes him a gun for hire. He cares less about the common man; he is only interested in furthering his own personal ambitions,” said Mr. Namwamba.
But his friend Linturi, the then Igembe South MP, judged him from a different angle. He reckons that Dr. Khalwale is an independent-minded person.
“It is therefore easy for people to misconstrue him as having a hidden agenda. But having worked with him for a year now, I believe that he is genuine in what he does,” said Mr. Linturi.
He has been mentioned among those eyeing the post of leader of official opposition when it is finally entrenched in the Constitution.
“I will lobby for that position when the time comes. For now, I will do the best I can at PAC, and if my colleagues see it fit to elect me to the seat on account of my work, I will be grateful.”
Although he states that he has the interest of the common man at heart, this position seems to be contradicted by the fact that Dr. Khalwale is a staunch opponent of taxation of MPs’ perks.
He has been quoted saying that such a move would render legislators “as poor as their constituents.”
“That recommendation was meant to hoodwink the public. I am not against taxing our salaries. I only called for a constitutional amendment that would obligate all MPs to pay taxes without appealing to their philanthropic nature,” he explained.
Bonny Khalwale Wives
Khalwale has several wives, although he declines to say how many. Three of his children have completed university while the fourth is at university. Two are in primary school.
He loves bullfighting and watching soccer and boxing. His favorite tipple is Tusker, taken strictly on weekends. His favorite food is ugali (maize meal), beef, and the traditional vegetable mrenda.
Contacts
Address: P.O. Box 2877, Kakamega, Kenya
Parliament Buildings
Parliament Rd.
P.O Box 41842 – 00100
Nairobi, Kenya
Email: bonimtetezi@gmail.com
Tel: 0721 318722
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KBonimtetezi
Boni Khalwale stoned, kicked out by Kibra residents
Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale was on Thursday morning 7 November chased away by residents at the Kibra Laini Saba ward moments after he arrived.
Khalwale, who has been on the front line campaigning for Jubilee candidate McDonald Mariga, did not seem to have any bodyguards with him.
In a video that has since been circulated on social media, Khalwale is seen walking as some rowdy Kibra residents follow him behind while throwing stones and hurling insults at him.
The rowdy residents are also heard shouting ‘Kibra ni yetu’ as they continue hurling stones at the politician.
Despite not having security, Khalwale was protected by his supporters, who walked with him while he was chased.
