Jared Benson Kangwana

DR, LLB, LLM, CPS (K), MBS Jared Benson Kangwana
Born	(1949-01-06) 6 January 1949 (age 75) Kisii, Kenya
Nationality	Kenyan
Citizenship	Kenya
Alma mater	University of Nairobi Kenya School of Law University of Edinburgh
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, businessman and lawyer
Known for	Business, philanthropy
Title	Chancellor Technical University of Kenya
Awards	Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) , Honorary Warden

Hon. Dr. Jared Benson Kangwana LLB, LLM, CPS (K), MBS (born 6 January 1949) is a Kenyan businessman, lawyer, entrepreneur and the Chancellor of the Technical university of Kenya. ^[1]

Early life and Education

Kangwana was born and raised in Kenya. He received his primary education at Gesabakwa Primary School, sat the Common Entrance Examination in 1960 and qualified to join Upper Primary at Gesicho Primary School and later transferred to Gianchere Friends Full Primary School and sat the Certificate of Primary Education examination in 1965 and qualified to join secondary school. He was admitted to Kisii High School in 1966 and in 1970, he sat “O” Level examination and passed with Division One. He proceeded to Form Five at the same school and sat A-Level examinations in 1972, and passed with 4 Principals. He was admitted to the University of Nairobi to study Law and graduated with an LLB Honours degree in 1975. In 1976, after completing his post-graduate Diploma in law at Kenya School of Law, he was admitted to the Roll of Advocates and has remained so ever since. Kangwana is also a Certified Public Secretary (CPS-K). In 1977, Kangwana received a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation International to study LLM at Queen's University in Northern Ireland but changed his mind and joined the University of Edinburgh's Faculty of Law. He completed his LLM programme and returned to Kenya in 1978.

Career

Kangwana was appointed as Lecturer at the Kenya School of Law in 1978 before moving to the University of Nairobi as lecturer and worked for several years teaching courses such as Company Law, Commercial Law, Insurance Law and Contract Law. It was while working at the University of Nairobi that Kangwana established his law firm - Kangwana and Company Advocates. As years passed by, he got several top appointments in both public and private sectors. Even with the numerous appointments, he had time to grow his private businesses that were being run by his own, carefully-selected professionals.

Corporate leadership and Entrepreneurship

In 1983, Kangwana was appointed Chairman of Kenya Times Media Trust that acquired Nairobi Times. The newspaper was renamed Kenya Times and became a daily. Kangwana went on to serve as Director and/or Chairman of Anglo African Property Holdings Limited, Chester House Limited, The Monarch Insurance Company Limited, Tamasha Corporation Limited, American Life insurance Company (ALICO), Equatorial Investment Bank Limited, among others. When the Capital Markets Authority was established in 1989, Kangwana was among the founding board members that gave the authority a firm foundation. He established and became the executive chairman of Transnational Bank which has since been acquired by Access Bank of Nigeria. In 2016, he established Maisha Microfinance Bank Ltd and became the Director and chairman. ^[2] He also ventured into the hospitality industry and to date he maintains interests in some of the top resorts in Kenya. His interests therefore cover the financial, media, real-estate and hospitality sectors. In 1987 Kangwana was appointed Kenya's representative to Intelsat, based in Washington DC. Intelsat was the only satellite operator at the time. The institution controlled and assigned frequencies for television, radio and telephone communication across the globe. It was while representing Kenya at Intelsat, Kangwana saw the opportunities that existed in the mass-media, entertainment and information industries and came up with the idea of establishing independent television and radio stations. Back then, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) was the only outfit that offered radio and television broadcast in Kenya. Kangwana made applied to the State and was granted frequencies and licences for television and radio broadcast. He mobilised resources to establish a radio station and the Kenya Television Network (KTN) which became the first ever free-to-air private television station in Africa. ^[3] He imported broadcast equipment and along came engineers from the USA who closely worked with their Kenyan counterparts to oversee the installation and testing of the equipment for the new stations. At that time, there was little locally produced content for television broadcast. To fill the void, Kangwana successfully negotiated commercial terms with CNN to receive their broadcast feed on KTN, a first in Africa. ^[4] As a continental broadcast pioneer, KTN expanded the freedom of expression and access to information which was like a political taboo at the time. This set the trend for free and independent media in Africa, and placed Kenya and Africa on the global media map. KTN also helped to establish independent radio and TV stations in several African countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Ghana.

Public Service

In 1988, he was appointed a Member of the Presidential Working Party on Education and Manpower Training for the Next Decade and Beyond. ^[5] He also served as a Member of the Presidential Working Party on Employment and Training in Kenya (popularly known as Ndegwa Commission). In addition, for several years, he served as a member of the Council of public institutions such as Moi University, Maseno University and Kenyatta University. Having sent his children to St. Andrew's School Turi in the early 1990s, Kangwana went on to join the Board of Governors and later to be the chair. During his tenure, he helped to grow the school from a relatively modest missionary school to being amongst the premier private schools in Africa. The school was amongst the first local institutions to offer the contemporary Cambridge ‘A-Level’ curriculum. Today, St. Andrew's attracts students from across the continent and continues to be a leading institution.

Member of Parliament

Kangwana was among the founding members of the East African Legislative Assembly and served as a legislator between 2000 – 2006 ^[6] during which time he served as a member of the House Business Committee and as Chair of the Legal, Privileges and Rules Committee that produced the Standing Orders of the House. He collaborated in drafting and steering through the Assembly at least six Bills that became law on their being assented to by the Heads of State of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, including establishment of the East African Community Customs Act. ^[7]

Philanthropy

Kangwana has over the years participated in community development through generous contributions for the construction and upgrading of schools, churches and hospitals. He has also supported countless students at different levels of education and training. In the 1990s, Kangwana considered the idea of doing something special for the community back at his place of birth. He established a primary school from scratch and introduced electricity and piped water to the community. He invited then President Daniel arap Moi to open the school in 1991 and it was named Moi Kisii Primary School. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) posted teachers and the school has since continued to perform well. Since its establishment, more than 1,500 students from the locality have successfully joined and qualified from universities and institutions of higher learning. To help the students keep abreast with the ever-evolving ICT, Kangwana recently funded a fully-equipped computer laboratory at the Moi Kisii Primary School and provided training and internet access. He also constructed and equipped the Kenyerere Health Centre which brought medical services to the heart of the community and is being currently managed by the County Government of Kisii.

National Honors

In recognition of his contribution to national development, in 1987, Kangwana was honoured by the Republic of Kenya as a Moran of the Burning Spear (MBS) ^[8] and in 2008, he was appointed as Honorary Warden by Kenya Wildlife Services in furtherance of his keen interest in conservation. ^[9]

Family

Kangwana is married to Tabitha Bochaberi. They have four children.

References

1. Ruto names KANU-era EALA MP Jared Kangwana TUK Chancellor https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2024/05/ruto-names-kanu-era-eala-mp-jared-kangwana-tuk-chancellor/
2. Moi-era businessman Kangwana opens microfinance bank https://nation.africa/kenya/business/moi-era-businessman-kangwana-opens-microfinance-bank-1242366
3. Kenya Television Network-KTN http://a-zkenya.info/kenyan-tv-stations/7-kenya-television-network-ktn
4. Jared Kangwana Kanu-era tycoon who founded KTN, multi billion business empire https://biznakenya.com/jared-kangwana/
5. Kamunge Commission Report and Recommendations https://kenya1610.rssing.com/chan-40316187/all_p1.html
6. EALA Members https://www.eala.org/members/view/kangwanajared
7. EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY https://www.eala.org/uploads/3Oct2006.pdf#page=1
8. The Kenya Gazette https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/officialGazette/2024-12-11/52/eng@1987-12-11/source#page=1
9. The Kenya gazette https://archive.gazettes.africa/archive/ke/2011/ke-government-gazette-dated-2011-08-12-no-79.pdf#page=63