Standard Group cartoonist Joshua Nanjero dies

Standard Group cartoonist Joshua Nanjero, 50, has died.

Nanjero, who was last seen in public on November 17, was found dead at his home in Kayole, Nairobi on November 23.

A postmortem report showed he had a clot in his brain, and his lungs had collapsed.

The report further indicated Nanjero, who had hypertension, suffered a stroke.

News of his death wasn’t known immediately until Tuesday, November 23, when the caretaker of his apartment filed a police report, stating that a foul smell was emanating from Nanjero’s house.

Police went to the scene, broke down Nanjero’s door and found him lying lifeless on the bed. Next to his body were pain relievers placed on a stool.

All this while, his supervisor’s efforts to reach him were futile.

Nanjero’s brother Silas Kuya told The Standard that he last spoke with the cartoonist on phone on November 17, and he did not exhibit any signs of sickness.

Nanjero was living alone at his Kayole home.

Nanjero’s colleagues at Standard Group described him as a witty and humorous person.

“He loved telling stories about women,” said his fellow cartoonist at Standard Group.

His cartoon work was published in the weekly Nairobian newspaper.

Nanjero, who is survived by a spouse and three children, will be buried on December 7 at his ancestral home in Kakamega County.

Eulogising Nanjero, veteran cartoonist Paul Kelemba "Maddo" said: "When Josh turned up at Kenya Times in the late 1980s to work under our colleague Kham, I knew he was going to be a good cartoonist.
 He convinced his editors he could do a "Madd World", which was granted and this is what he was producing at The Nairobian. 
He was awesome completion and that made us close friends with almost nightly outings at the famous Nyamu's (Sunset Grill) where we found ourselves discussing serious issues in broken Lingala. 
The cartoonists' fraternity and ardent readers of our stuff will greatly miss this contributor to Kenya's culture and art."

News of the cartoonist’s death comes a day after veteran science journalist Gatonye Gathura was positively identified at the Naivasha Sub-County Referral Hospital morgue.

It is suspected Gathura, a resident of South B in Nairobi, was murdered and his body dumped in Naivasha on October 26. When police collected his body, it had a wire cable around his neck, suggesting he had been strangled.

Gathura previously wrote for Nation and Standard before venturing into private practice.

The Kenya Editors Guild condoled with the families of Nanjero and Gathura.

“Kenya Editors Guild sends its deepest condolences to the two families and wishes them comfort and strength,” said the Guild’s president Churchill Otieno.