‘I was born in 1980. My parents were squatters living in Moi University area,the only home they had was a grass – thacked shack on Mzee Kibor Apar Talai’s land which he permitted them to occupy temporarily. With mybrothers,i used to sleep in the kitchen.’ Said Oscar Sudi,theMember of Parliament for Kapsaret constituency in an interview with The Nairobian.
Sudi said that her mother lost her job and that his father had began selling bags of charcoal at Ksh. 40 to pay for his son’s tution at Tulwop- Ngetuny Primary School .Sudi had to offer help when he decided to use his bicycle which he bought with his savings, to transport charcoal to the market. When his mother opened a grocery store,he could help her as well. Here is when Sudi stated that he made friends with the matatu touts and that is how he began touting.
‘ I started working as a parking boy in 1996 and the conductors had grown to be my friends. I was given to atleast one matatu owner after six months and mostly worked for Mzee Barnabas Sawe,whose vehicle was labelled Carlos, ‘ said Sudi. Sudi added that after one year Mr. Sawe increased his compensation from ksh. 800 to ksh. 1200 . According to mr. Sudi,he saved and bought his own matatu in 1998 which he used to drive as part of Sawe’s fleet.
In 2001 Sudi went to Nairobi for the first time with a friend called Sorgor and boight a radio and a black and white TV. The business oriented Sudi learnt about a new way of income generation in Nairobi which was the pool business and thought of replicating the same in Eldoret,his home town. `I then took a loan of ksh. 110000 and bought tables which I installed in Kesses and which actually brought in top dollar for me. As I drove my matatu, I bought other five tables which I erected at Moi university, Mugondoi and Cherangany districts.’ Sudi later sold his matatu and bought a toyota sedan and mazda pickup truck ,the process through which he developed an intreset in car dealership.
`I travelled to Mombasa and bought an automobile which then i sold for top dollar in Eldoret. I met the then lecturer and the current governor forKeri ho,paul chepkwony who connected me with his friend to whom i could assist in buying cars using their own dime because they enjoyed the exemption,’ narrated Sudi.
Sudi continued to say that it’s in the car dealership business that he met the rich mombasa businessman David Lagat through whom he came into contact with people like our current president William Samoei Ruto and former MP for Eldoret North,Cyrus Jirongo.As his political and business connections expanded,so were his political aspirations .He claimed to have successfully ran a campaign for Davis Koros on Eldoret south but he deserted him after clinging to power Sudi decided to stay closer to Ruto with whose then party,United Republican Party,Sudi won the MP for Kapsaret constituency in 2013 general elections . He again secured the sit in 2017 through Uhuru’s party, Jubilee party.He is the current MP forKapsaret with Ruto’ s UDA party.