Did you know that Ghetto Radio’s Morning Breakfast’s co-host King Kafu first joined Ghetto Radio as a cleaner?? Well this was after he had enough of crime life plus a number of years in ‘Zangaro’- prison.
The comic radio presenter having lost his parents at a tender age and struggling whilst growing in Ziwani Eastlands might have not been amongst the lucky ones then,a factor that largely cultivated to his crime involvement at an early age.
Prior joining Ghetto Radio,Kafu had seen death slowly coming for him after witnessing some of his then ‘criminal’ friend being shot dead in broad daylight. He had to stop before he too also followed the same path as he narrated to “Spirits in Nairobi”;
“My parents died when I was very young and I had to fend for myself from a very tender age. I abandoned schooling and started selling scrape metal to get food since the relatives I lived with never really bothered about me. But as time went by I saw some of my friends wearing good clothes and having money, yet they didn’t toil like me. They were all members of a gang which I joined in a bid to have their life. We would do everything from ngeta (hammerlock), snatching phones, carjacking and pick pocketing in Ngara and other areas. Money would flow but the risks were extremely high. My friends were being shot dead by the police at an alarming rate. I knew it wouldn’t be long before a police bullet ended my life. But luckily, I was arrested and taken to Zangaro (jail). I spent three years in Industrial Area Remand Prison. I went on with crime after prison, but after I escaping death in three occasions where more than half of my partners were gunned down, I called it quits. With the help of a friend, I started doing manual jobs. Mowing loans and unblocking drainage became my new source of bread and butter. It’s during that time that a friend connected me to a job at Ghetto Radio as an office cleaner. I have always loved talking and being funny, a talent that the station’s management noted. Being born and bred in Ziwani, my grasping of sheng is deep. And that’s how I started recording some late night show before presenting the evening drive. Today I am grateful to God that I co-host the popular morning show…. Being a presenter in the official sheng station, I believe this popular slang is the only language that captures the true spirit of Nairobi.”
Today,Kafu is a household name and a veteran presenter of Ghetto Radio,having joined it during its inception back in 2007.
Your dreams are valid. Your past does not determine how your story will end ,always remember. One word for King Kafu….
Below are a number of Kafu’s light moments,such a jovial soul;
MUKAMI KANYI