Uhuru’s bouncer Bill Arocho on ferrying billions during campaigns
By Winnie MabelBill Arocho, 47, the private bodyguard to former president Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement party leader Raila Odinga, called it a day on his career of providing security for very important persons over 23 years on December 22, 2022.
In an exclusive interview with Nairobi News on December 22, 2022, Mr Arocho, the twin brother to Radio Jambo’s presenter Fred Arocho, revealed some of the intrigues that his job involved as he gave advise to upcoming bouncers who intend on providing security services to very important people.“Upcoming bouncers must have discipline. Discipline, discipline, discipline. That is what has taken me far. At 47, I still run, I do hard work like young men- you know these young men, most of the time we run more than them. I’m 47 and I run more than them because I don’t drink. I’m very disciplined. I sleep at 7PM and wake up very early in the morning especially when we were in our campaigns. I woke up earlier than those young boys.
All I can advise young men is that you have to be disciplined, and you have to like your job as much as it is degraded by many people in this city. I respected my job and it has taken me far and wide, it has made me dine with kings, and it has made me travel globally. I’ve traveled to almost 12 European countries and about 20 African countries. I didn’t go to higher learning schools, I only completed my secondary education and looking at the distance I have travelled because of bouncing, it is beyond my dreams. I want to encourage young men that bouncing is a profession that needs to be looked at in good light. It has made me live in another atmosphere which I never thought I would ever live in. I have even done better than my schoolmates who were better in class than me.”
“So I’m urging young men, in anything you do, be disciplined. Be proud of it- by the way I’ve been proud of my work and if anyone dared speak ill of bouncers around me, I am on their neck. You have to respect your job, it pays you. It has really paid me, oh, I’ve gone so far. I’ve done a lot of things, I’ve bought many things including land in many places and other things which ordinarily I would not have gotten. I’ve reached to the top because of my discipline and honesty.
Arocho has also opened up on how he was once tasked with ferrying a large amount of money.
“You know sometimes it (bouncing) involves politicians giving you a lot cash to take to a different point. You carry it and take it in millions, billions and you take it. I’ve ever been in a position, I’m not going to name the names, where they gave us cash almost a billion in two land rovers to take to another point. Not even a shilling disappeared. It was so tempting but I was trusted so much. It was for campaigns so you carry and take it to where you’ve been sent. This shows you that you need to be trusted because during campaigns, a lot of money passes through your hands and it has to reach where it has to go,” Mr Arocho said.
Mr Arocho was highly visible during former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s 10-year tenure, and also provided private security services to Orange Democratic Movement party leader Raila Odinga. He announced plans to go into another line of work and is currently a huge supporter of President William Samoei Ruto, the candidate who beat Raila with about 200,000 votes in the recent August 2022 General Election.
“I have faced a lot of challenges in the line of duty. One of them was when I saved Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria from a hostile crowd in Kitui back in February 2020 during a Building Bridges Initiative rally. I personally saved him. It was so challenging because the people who were ejecting him from the rally were my friends. It was a very scary situation to be in as the crowd grew hostile and I was the only one protecting Kuria,” said Mr Arocho.
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