Amwere, who had never attended school, promised to compensate teachers Sh48 million. He has real property in Kitale, Mbale, Kakamega, Kisumu, and Nairobi, as well as other important cities.
Early in the 1980s, Ibrahim Ambwere startled the nation by pledging to pay teachers their Sh48 million in arrears.
He was concerned for the welfare of educators. “In the 1980s, that was a substantial lot of money, but I had it and was willing to bail them out,” he says.
Ambwere, a wealthy Kitale merchant, never had formal education. His parents were too destitute to pay for his education. He experienced anxiety when government officials investigated his personal life after accepting the position. “I don’t want to discuss it because it still hurts,” he says.
When Sunday Standard sought him out, we inquired as to his current worth. He laughed heartily and stated, “My culture does not permit me to mention that, but I am certainly worth a great deal.”
However, Kitale residents are not reluctant to provide an estimate. “He is a billionaire. He is wealthier than the majority of politicians. People refer to him as mheshimiwa, according to one of Ambwere’s tenants in a building he owns.
Ambwere owns real property in Kitale, Mbale, Kakamega, Kisumu, and Nairobi, among other cities. Nevertheless, he retains an aura of mystery. He rarely appears in public and acknowledges he has purposefully avoided media scrutiny. “Very few people have my trust,” he says.
In 1936, he was born in Maragoli to a polygamous family. His mother was dumb and deaf, and his father went for military service four years after his birth and never returned.
At age eight, his mother passed away. It created an arc in his life, which he says propelled him to become the man he is today. Together with his two siblings, he traveled around Maragoli to work on people’s farms.
When he was 10 years old, he followed a group of older men to Molo, Nakuru County, to work on pyrethrum fields. “I quit after the first day. Due to allergies, my eyes itched and my nose was congested,” he says.
Long trudge
Then, he met an Asian mason who hired him as a sweeper, a job he faithfully performed for close to ten years. The next morning, his employer told him that he was leaving Kenya and presented him with an old toolbox. “This toolbox is a crucial element of my narration. It’s where my life began,” he says.
With the Sh38 he had saved, Ambwere embarked on his lengthy journey to a new life. One that would make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. He located his ancestral house in Chavakali, but family were unwelcoming. Then, he rented a house, wed Zipporah, and married a carpenter shop. He says, “I simply had Sh38 and an old toolbox.”
In 1963, he landed his first major contract when Kaimosi Hospital hired him to construct beds. When the hospital was unable to compensate him, an old ambulance was given to him. “Ambulance” was written on it, and I utilized it to deliver wood to my shop, he says.
In five years, he had built his own shop and moved out of renting space.
However, some claim that his success story is “too perfect” to be real. Paul Ogembe, a certified public accountant whose father says to have had extensive dealings with Ambwere, is skeptical of the ‘rags to riches’ tale the old man portrays. “My father says that Ambwere is a clever man who must have had ties to powerful people back then in order to be where he is now,” says Ogembe.
Ambwere scoffs at the claims, stating that young people are accustomed to hearing tales of stealing rather than hard work and tenacity. Ambwere, who began his career as a carpenter, rose to become a property owner and erected enduring structures in Western.
However, his personal life has been disrupted by family disputes, resulting in the divorce of two spouses. He claims that his ex-wives conspired with his children and others to defraud him of his hard-earned cash. He claims that he did not find serenity until he married his present wife, Ebby Ingado, in 1994.
Between 1989 and 1992, he was hospitalized at Nairobi Hospital due to his diabetes. “My business was in tatters when I returned back. I had to begin again,” he says.
His lack of academic schooling has never prevented him from expanding his business. In the 1970s, when the demand to learn to read and write increased, he recruited Lawrence Kisame as a teacher. Ambwere could read, write, and communicate in English after four years. He presented a house to Kisame.
“Because he transformed me, I built him a house. “Teachers are unique,” he says.
His stories include recollections of politicians with whom he has interacted. Former President Mwai Kibaki, who was the Finance Minister at the time, commissioned one of his buildings, Chavakali Hardware. Former President Daniel Moi is also mentioned as one of his distinguished guests.
Against all odds
However, I’ve never wanted to be a politician, he says with a humorous grin.
The closest he has been to politics was in 2002, when he was chosen national head of the Luhya Elders’ Council, a position he quit from a few years later on the grounds that Luhya politicians were involved in too many disputes.
He intends to expand his business and is constructing a shopping center in Kitale, which he hopes will have repercussions throughout the entire nation.
His children assist him in his business endeavors, advising him on technical developments he may adopt to expand his business. “We teach my father more than he teaches us,” says his son, Fransico.
Locals, though, believe he is so engrossed with his own development that he never looks at the disadvantaged around him.
“His house is enormous, yet his neighbors and employees are severely impoverished. One of his employees says that he has never assisted them.
Ambwere appears thoughtful as claims of his miserliness are made, but then nods and says:
“It is correct. I rarely donate money to others, particularly those who want to take advantage of me. “However, I have never turned my back on people who truly need my assistance,” he says.
He is currently 80 years old. When he reflects on the course of his life, he says he can only characterize himself as the son of a deaf mother who overcame all odds and made a reputation for himself.
A moniker he hopes will endure long after he has passed away.
