When Kenya's second President Daniel Moi's time in the top seat was coming to an end, he started considering his exit strategy, which included consolidating power around his KANU Party.
Knowing that there were too many political sharks angling for the top post, his strategists informed him that the best way to consolidate power was to bring the vibrant Raila Odinga into the fold and to strengthen Uhuru Kenyatta, who unbeknown to many, was Moi's choice.
It was during these times that Moi's trusted charismatic point man and nominated MP Mark Too was roped in to help in wooing Odinga.
Kenyatta University don Julius Gathogo told Kenyans.co.ke, that Mark Too's charisma convinced Raila out of his National Development Party (NDP) to join Moi's KANU, where Uhuru was being groomed for leadership behind the curtains.
"Uhuru was appointed one of the four vice-chairs of KANU and Raila was named the secretary-general, so Mark too was no longer needed. He had already done his work, and some people close to power might have said that he was too risky to stay around due to his influence," Gathogo stated.
In October 2001, Moi forced Mark Too to step down as a Nominated MP in favour of Uhuru, who was then appointed to the Cabinet as the Minister for Local Government a month later.
Gathogo told Kenyans.co.ke that after Too left the government, he stayed off the radar for a while, a matter that affected his political prowess and his later attempts at rekindling his political career.
"His political prowess went down because of the lack of patronage. Having lost the proximity to power and with poor education, the man was like fish out of water. His departure from KANU was the last stroke that cracked the camel's back," he explained.
Too, popularly known as Bwana Dawa and Mr Fix It” due to his handy political nature, attempted to run for the Eldoret South parliamentary seat in 2007 only to lose to Jesse Mais.
Mark Too passed on in December 2016, due to complications arising from stomach ulcers at the age of 60.
During his life, he served as an assistant minister in the Office of the President, a Nominated MP, Chairman of Lonrho East Africa, Kenya Sugar Authority, The Standard Group, Director of Standard Chartered Bank among other positions.
