It’s amazing what we gain just by losing something. When Dr Hosea Kili, the group managing director and CEO of County Pension Fund (CPF), lost his left eye, he gained certain perspectives—inclusion, empathy, kindness. Yet, in all this, a larger sadness is at play, the sadness of attachment and loss, and the way the world wreaks its changes, whether we’re ready for them or not.
Dr Kili is easy-going, affable, a man who has come to accept his lot in life. Life to him is a road with so many signs. Ask people who have derailed their lives when and why it happened, and each will give a different answer. But when you get down to it, people erred because they didn’t read the signs. Or they did, but they thought they knew better. To put it another way, the willfully blind.
Not to be too forward, but what happened to your eye? I had an injury many years ago, almost 20 years ago.
Life changes after such injuries, did yours change? One thing about the senses is that when you lose one part of the body, the others strengthen. For example, you've seen people who lose their legs. They become stronger in the upper part of the body. What you have now becomes stronger. But the most important thing is acceptance. You must accept that life goes on.
As the chair of the Kenya Society for the Blind, what is the rudest question someone can ask a blind person? [chuckles] You can hit someone blind or someone blind can hit you by mistake, and you will ask, ‘Why are you hitting me? Are you blind?’ If that person actually is blind, the question becomes deeply insensitive.
What is a life lesson you've picked from leading that association? One of the things that people generally fail to appreciate is that others don’t look or live exactly like them. Many don’t realise they owe a duty of care, or that people with disabilities deserve the same priorities and dignity. But once you engage with blind people, you realise they are simply normal people. My CEO, Samson Waweru, who is blind, travels by himself to foreign countries, and in our board meetings, we grill him; we do not spare the man. I’ve understood how important it is that people who have certain handicaps and disabilities are very strong.
Dr Hosea Kili, CEO and Group Managing Director of CPF Financial Services Ltd, during the interview at his office in Nairobi on February 19, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | NMG
Has your understanding of what it means to see changed over time? Yes. You become more compassionate. You learn to really look at human beings. Of course, many people who get accidents and maybe lose their legs or lose their eyes or they get sick, and some of them go deaf and that’s when they realise, I am now in this situation yet yesterday I was ‘normal’. Eddy, do you know there are three million blind people in Kenya? If you passed one on the road, would you know?
Probably not. What has time softened in you over the years? When you’re young, you believe you can do anything. You can climb Mount Everest. You have many ambitions. But over time, you learn that you have to accept that a human being is mortal and has limitations and that’s what I’ve learned. You learn to postpone some things and delegate others. Delegation is essential. You need help, and you need to accept that the other person has weaknesses.
What is a habit you picked outside the office that has really been impactful in your life? One of the things I did was what I would call the ability to solve social problems in the community, and many people run away from it. I know it’s a tough task to expect all the people to think about the needs of their neighbour, most people are insular and idealistic. But if I can make you happy, then I’m happy. I have learned that this life can be better if you are compassionate and more understanding.
What do you do just for Dr. Kili to feel like a boy? Two things. One, I really enjoy a good movie when I have time to kill. Or a good book, all varieties, but I also like some serious history and drama books. I hardly have time to read nowadays, and compensate for that lack through audiobooks. But I also like Christian and Western music.
Which movie or book reminds you of a certain period of your life? I like action movies. They tend to excite you and take you to a fantasy world. When I was younger, I loved fantasy worlds like Star Wars. These days, I prefer realism. I loved Chuck Norris in Walker, Texas Ranger. Finally, I love talking with friends. It’s part of the reason why I set up something called Pensions Club. The most relaxing and healthy lifestyle to have is having time with your friends, people whom you really value, who are interesting to listen to and tell stories. I like stories. My father is a great storyteller, but he never laughs, or maybe he does, but I have never seen him laugh, but you will laugh [chuckles]. I’m a historian, I like reading about and understanding history. I have also read the Bible more than once, cover to cover.
What do your friends get from you that the rest of us don’t? A good laugh, they enjoy me a lot. Now my job is to mentor younger people. It makes me very happy because when you see a young man who listens, and tomorrow, they implement some of the things you tell them, it's nice. There’s no better teacher than lived experience. I wish young people understood that their parents have already lived the life they are living. For example, among the Kalenjin and Maasai, dreadlocks were normal, and you have dreadlocks now, Eddy, right? [chuckles] My own mother, in the 1950s, just when she was about to get married, she was wearing a miniskirt because that was the fashion in those days haha! And the men were in baggy turn-up trousers, so nothing new, what you guys are doing now.
What will the younger you tell you now? My friend, you are on a journey, and that journey is not reversible. There is no reverse gear for life. You learn as you go, and you hope what you are doing is the correct way. There are road signs which most young people may ignore, thinking they are decorations, but those signs mean someone else has walked there and seen them as dangers—advice based on real experiences. The destination is known; what is not known is how many kilometres to get there. You must be careful about what enters your mouth.
What do you mean? What messes up young people is what passes through their mouths. And I am not talking about wholesome food. You know what I mean, Eddy [chuckles].
When you look in the side mirrors of your life, what stands out? I once read The Road Not Taken. Everybody has regrets; they should have done this or that. I have them too. But I have overachieved; I have done more than I think any person at my level should do.
What was your road not taken? Haha! I used to fantasise a lot about living in majuu, in Europe. The wazungu came here and fast-tracked Africans from our Stone Age lifestyle to the modern world. I’ll tell you this, I fantasised about living in Europe for a long time, but now that I have visited many countries in the world, with all our imperfections in Kenya, this is the best country to live in. Young people may not want to listen to it, but we have the best of many things, including the weather; we don’t have extremes. You can never be a first-class citizen in another world; at best, a fourth-class citizen there.
What is the hardest part about being you? The hardest part is to keep the act. When you do certain things, and you do them well, everybody expects that you will always be there to do it. But as you grow older, certain parts of you weaken. If I have to move from this seat to that one, I have to start thinking about the how. When you are young, you are accelerating. Then you level out and start decelerating. The problem for many people is that they don’t know when the gear shift happens [chuckles].
What wisdom comes only from living? Life is precious and finite. If you don't use it properly, you will dissipate it, and one day you won’t have anything. But enjoy your life and make the best of it, not just for your own vanity, but how many people have you impacted and improved their lives just by being alive?
Do you think we are shaped more by those we care for or by those who care for us? Ah. It's more those who care for us. Many people care for you, and you feel that you are worth something. The most valuable gift is gratitude, a thank you. Give more than you expect, and life is better for everybody.
What is it that you’ve learned about friendships? I’ve learned genuine friends are as rare as gold. The majority of friendships are transactional, or only when they feel good around you. When you are in trouble, that’s when you know who will go down with you and not judge you.
Do you have those genuine friends? I do [chuckles].
Are you one as well? I try my best to be there for my friends. But it is rare. And many times, we mistake friends who are there for the genuine ones.
What would surprise me about you? I am also a writer. Not all lawyers write. There is a difference when you write because you want to transfer knowledge from your mind for other people to enjoy. That's a calling. It creates permanence.
What is your idea of a good weekend? For me now, it’s a quiet one. In fact, if I can get a whole weekend without work, because many people want me to do things for them, but if people can leave me alone for a weekend, I am happy. Even my wife keeps off a bit. Let me sit there and read a book or listen to some music quietly, I don’t even want my children to visit at that time, ah, that’s a nice weekend [chuckles].
