Nicholas Kipyator Kiprono Araap Biwott
" Total-Man", " Karnet"
"I am a man. A total man. A man is a man. I will die a man in this country."
These words, spoken in a small church in Keiyo South after his release from detention, became the epitaph of Nicholas Biwott, the most powerful and controversial figure in Kenya's second presidency.
This is the first comprehensive biography of the man they called Karnet — Iron.
From his birth in the hills of Keiyo to his education as the first Kenyan in Australia, from his rise as President Moi's most trusted lieutenant to his arrest for a murder he did not commit, from his record-breaking libel victories to his role in building dams, roads, schools, and hospitals, KARNET traces the arc of a life that shaped modern Kenya.
Based on years of research, court records, commission reports, and interviews, this biography refuses hagiography while insisting on judgment by evidence, not rumor.
Biwott founded KEMRI. He carved the Iten-Kabarnet road out of the escarpment. He extended the pipeline to Kisumu and Eldoret. He built the Maria Soti Educational Centre and sixteen other schools. He served as a founding trustee of the National Fund for the Disabled for forty years. He helped revive the East African Community and launch the COMESA free trade area.
He was also accused of murder, investigated by Scotland Yard, named in the Kroll Report, and linked to the Goldenberg scandal. He was never convicted. He sued his accusers and won more than KSh 67 million in libel awards, a record that still stands.
Karnet ko Kiim — Iron endures.
