Mathematician who juggled academia and politics

At the height of his career, George Eshiwani was the vice-chancellor of Kenyatta University by day and a Kanu consultant by night.
“Moi was my friend,” he once told a TV station.
So entrenched was Prof Eshiwani in the Kanu regime that former President Moi once named him to a think-tank that was to help Kanu strategise on winning the 1997 general elections. The good professor of mathematics had little choice. Perhaps he had. At KU, students fondly called him ‘Georgy’ when he freely mixed with them, fielding their endless questions, ranging from accommodation to quality of food and state of lecture halls.
He was easy-going, smooth-talking and would easily take to the podium to dance with students during the KU Culture Week, which he had introduced, in the month of September. However, those who fell out with him would easily be expelled from the university.
His dalliance with Kanu was his other hallmark. The cat was let out of the bag when Moi left power and the Goldenberg inquiry provided Kenyans with a sneak preview of the underworld of the Kanu regime where money squirrelled from Central Bank through fictitious diamond export compensation scheme earned ne’er-do-wells and political scoundrels pseudo-celebrity status.
For his role, and for unknown reasons, Prof Eshiwani is listed in the Judicial Goldenberg Report among the primary beneficiaries as having received Sh12 million.
The payments were received from what Goldenberg architect Kamlesh Pattni described as the “election account” or what was known as Steadfast account.
“It is possible that the payments were made in connection with the 1992 Kanu election campaign,” said the commission led by Justice Samuel Bosire.

Own class
During the judicial hearing, Prof Eshiwani emerged, not as the leader of KU, but as a Kanu operative who was used to dishing out campaign money ahead of the 1992 election.
In September 1992, he led about 1,000 students to State House, Nairobi where they met with President Moi to announce their “defection” from the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford), an Opposition party then.
According to then student leader, Morris Muthamia Mwariama, Prof Eshiwani forced him to defect to Kanu and mobilise other students to hold a massive demonstration against Ford. For that, he told Justice Bosire, he received Sh800,000 from President Moi to start campaign against the Opposition.