During the 2002 general elections, Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji, both in their early twenties, had just launched their hit single, Unbwogable
The song was quickly embraced by the late President Mwai Kibaki’s NARC coalition as the official campaign anthem, contributing significantly to his ascent to State House following the 24-year tenure of the late President Daniel Moi.
However, days before the elections, Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji were presented with an enticing offer of Ksh 10 million to endorse retired President Uhuru Kenyatta; however, they declined.
Moi had endorsed Uhuru to run under the Kenya African National Union (KANU) banner.
During this period, Unbwogable dominated the airwaves, and to enhance their campaign efforts, Kibaki’s team utilized the song to further their objectives.
The track effectively stirred the emotions of the populace, galvanizing support for Kibaki in opposition to Moi’s favored candidate, Kenyatta.
“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 Ksh 800,000. But we don’t know how much was given to the production, which was controlled by Ted Josiah,” Gidi Gidi said.
GidiGidi asserts that the song significantly boosted NARC’s popularity, to the extent that mere days prior to the election, they were approached by KANU representatives with a competing proposal.
“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 Ksh 10 million in cash. They came with the money in the boot of their car,” he added.
GidiGidi expressed that the offer left them perplexed, as they found themselves conflicted about whether to accept it.
Ultimately, they decided to decline the proposal.
“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 Ksh 10 million was real or not,” he added.
GidiGidi expressed regret for not accepting the offer when it was presented.
“We 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,” he shared.
