The life and times of Bruce Odhiambo

Bruce Odhiambo died on Monday night at Nairobi Hospital. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Bruce Odhiambo was walking down a city street generally minding his own business when he spotted a stunning beauty.
  • He instinctively stopped her and, after the usual pleasantries, it was not a coffee or lunch date that he sought — it was a strange proposal that left her speechless. 

Former Youth Enterprise Fund chairman and renowned music producer Bruce Odhiambo is dead.

Bruce died on Monday night at Nairobi Hospital where he had been admitted in the Intensive Care Unit after developing heart related complications.

Here are six things you (probably) did not know about Bruce .

1.    THE FATHER

Bruce Odhiambo was walking down a city street generally minding his own business when he spotted a stunning beauty.

He instinctively stopped her and, after the usual pleasantries, it was not a coffee or lunch date that he sought — it was a strange proposal that left her speechless. 

In an interview with Daily Nation’s Lifestyle Magazine in 2014, he said:

“I said I did not want to waste her time with long stories about love and whatnot. I simply wanted her to bear my child with no strings attached,” he says, revealing for the first time a secret that only his close friends know.

It took the woman time to accept the “offer”. And when she finally did, Bruce had a contract drafted by a lawyer in which she waived any claim to the child other than the occasional visit.

2.   UHURU KENYATTA'S FRIEND

Bruce is many things to many people. To President Uhuru Kenyatta, he is the go-to guy and a close friend.

3.   MENTOR, MUSICIAN AND PRODUCER

To artistes, he is “Brother B” — a mentor and skilled producer, and his Johari Cleff studios is a melting pot of creativity. And to hundreds of disadvantaged people, he is a philanthropist who believes in the biblical advice that the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing.  

To those who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, he is the talented musician who played with the legendary Mombasa-based Safari Sound Band and the Spartans.

4.  KIND AND GENEROUS

Saturday Magazine editor Wayua Muli described Bruce as kind generous upon learning of his death on January 8.

“He was one of the kindest people I knew. Every Friday he would have his staff cook a huge vat of biryani rice and anyone who knew where he lived was welcome to pass by and partake. Needless to say, lots of struggling upcoming artistes were grateful for that meal. I don't know many people as kind or giving as Bruce. May his soul rest in eternal peace,” she posted on Facebook.

5.   ACTOR

Bruce was one of the actors in the star-studded controversial Kenyan movie Project Daddy. In the movie, a woman is on the prowl for a man to father her child in a no-frills relationship of convenience. The hunt zeroes in on, among others, the towering figure of Bruce Odhiambo.

6. CORRUPTION SCANDAL

Bruce was at the centre of the Sh180m Youth Enterprise Fund scandal. Mr Bruce in an email to a media house, Royal Media Services, said he was “stepping down to allow investigations to continue.”

It read: “There has been lots of talk recently…about YEDF [Youth Enterprise Development Fund]…that is shadowing the ongoing investigations.”

He was fingered over alleged theft at the youth fund, particularly how Sh180 million was transferred in two tranches of Sh115 million and Sh65 million to Quorandum Limited, 10 days after he appointed Ms Catherine Namuye, the suspended acting chief executive, as the sole signatory to the fund’s account.

Ms Namuye allegedly contracted Quorandum to design a computer management software for the fund before making the payments.

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Compiled from stories by MIKE OWUOR, EUNICE KILONZO AND THOMAS MATIKO.