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Big Ted: We worked for a year in Statehouse without salary
21st January, 2026 10:39 AM
Thomas Kwaka Omolo, widely known as Big Ted, has revealed the harsh realities he and his team faced while working at State House.
Speaking during a candid conversation with Dr Ofweneke, Big Ted disclosed that they spent an entire year without receiving a salary.
He explained that after the retired president Uhuru Kenyatta won the 2013 general election, they were appointed and immediately started work, given numerous responsibilities.
However, they quickly ran into the formal government hiring process, which requires every post to go through the Public Service Commission.
“In the Statehouse, we worked for one year without a salary. We won the election, we went in, and we were told ‘wewe fanya hii fanya hii’,” Ted revealed.
“Then we now ran into the real problem, the bureaucracy of the government, that there must be a process that must be followed before anyone is hired and the process goes to the Public Service Commission.”
He went on to reveal that before they could officially start working, their positions had to be advertised so that other qualified candidates could apply
“So that is fair for everybody in Kenya, a post is advertised, people are shortlisted, and then if you are the best of the best you get the job,but here you are already working and waiting for this one year, which is to and fro, but finally we made it,” he added.
Paid salary
Ted recounted how the team finally got paid, sharing a surprising twist
“It is a different story how got paid, my bank called me, ‘Ted i think they have deposited the president’s salary in your account’. I ran to my bank, asked for the statement they showed me, and withdrew Ksh 300k. The money was about Ksh 3 million,” Big Ted shared.
Statehouse job
In 2013, Big Ted was appointed by the retired President, Uhuru Kenyatta, to become the deputy director of brand and strategy at State House.
He served in the position for two years until 2015, when he was appointed the director of brand strategy and events at the Executive Office of the President.
Big Ted was later appointed by Uhuru, alongside 23 others to become Kenyan envoys, where he served as Consul-General for Kenya’s Consulate in Los Angeles, United States of America (USA).
