Why we rejected Sh10 Million to support Uhuru Kenyatta – Gidi Gidi, Maji Maji

A few days before the 2002 general elections, then-top hip-hop group Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji received a mouth-watering offer of Sh10 million to support retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, but they turned it down.
Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji, then in their early 20s, had just released the smash hit Unbwogable, produced by legendary music producer Tedd Josiah.
The song was immediately adopted by the late President Mwai Kibaki’s Narc coalition as the official campaign song that swept him into State House after the 24-year rule of his predecessor, the late Daniel Moi.

Under immense pressure from the international community and Kenyans, Moi, Kenya’s longest-serving president, had announced a year earlier that he would not seek re-election in the 2002 polls.
Instead, Moi backed former president Uhuru to run on the ticket of the Kenya African National Union (KANU).
KANU would face a formidable front from the Narc coalition, which brought together several parties with the aim of ending its long rule.

It was also at this time that ‘Unbwogable’ ruled the airwaves and to popularise their campaign, Kibaki’s camp adopted the song to promote their agenda.
The song worked its magic, whipping up the emotions of the masses and rallying them behind Kibaki against Moi’s preferred candidate, Kenyatta.

Former rapper turned radio presenter Gidi Gidi says they were compensated by Narc for the use of their song.
“The biggest benefit we got from the fame of Unbwogable was the shows. We did a lot of shows and the exposure we got was also massive considering we were in our early 20s. At the same time, Narc proposed to use the song for their campaigns where they dissected it into different languages. The offer they made to Gidi Gidi Maji Maji was around Sh800,000. But we don’t know how much was given to the production, which was controlled by Ted Josiah.” Gidi Gidi reveals.

The former rapper says the song helped Narc’s popularity so much that just days before the election, they were visited by KANU agents with a counter-offer.
“Immediately the song was adopted by Narc and they were now playing it everywhere and at all the rallies, some KANU agents came to us at night and proposed that we sell them the song. We were supposed to go back to the studio that very night and change everything and say we were now supporting KANU and Uhuru Kenyatta and these guys offered us Sh10 million in cash. They came with the money in the boot of their car.” Gidi Gidi recalls.

He says the offer confused them and they were torn between accepting it or not, but in the end, they turned it down.
“One was that we feared for our lives. What if the public went after us because the mood was that everyone was tired of the KANU regime? Another factor was that there was so much counterfeit Kenyan currency in circulation at the time and we couldn’t be sure if the Sh10 million was real or not.” Gidi Gidi adds.

Looking back at the decision Gidi Gidi says not taking up the offer remains a mixture of regret and not regretting.
“Yes, sometimes we do regret not taking the money. We probably should have taken the money, done the song the way they wanted, and then gone into hiding until when things would have calmed down because it was a lot of money. But we were young and naive. But then again I don’t think the song would have had the impact it had until to date had we diluted it.” he says.