'Politics is a calling'

He was a towering figure in former President Moi’s Cabinet. His mastery of political ropes saw him head the then influential docket of Internal Security and Provincial Administration.

Rising from just a squatter, GG Kariuki, who has served in all Kenya’s political regimes, today swims in politics and academia in equal measure.

In December 2015, when Kenya’s oldest institution of higher learning was conferring degrees to thousands of graduates, one name that stood out was Godfrey Gitahi Kariuki. At 76, Kenya’s oldest member of Senate was conferred with a Doctorate of Philosophy in International Studies.

G.G Kariuki defied age, went back to class and Peter Mbithi, the Vice Chancellor of University of Nairobi had to recognise this special feat.

“He is a living testament that indeed the quest for knowledge knows no time. It is never too late. I therefore urge you not to stop here.

“Our families need you to unravel the next discovery and make theirs a better world,” Mbithi said, when referring to Kariuki as a decorated public servant.

GG Kariuki says that he felt honoured and privileged for being singled out by “such a senior and experienced member of the academia.”

But his academic pilgrimage was not a walk in the park.

Living as a squatter with his parents on a 128,000-acre estate, there was only one school — a makeshift structure put up by the squatters for the education of their children.

Despite the turbulent times, he says that he never took his eyes off the target.

The worst came on October 20, 1952 when the State of Emergency was declared in Kenya by Sir Evelyn Baring, who was the colonial governor.

At that time, GG Kariuki was a student at Kiamwangi Secondary School in Gatundu.

“On that morning, we woke up to find the school swarming with security agents,” he recounts.

“All the senior teachers were arrested, including the headmaster. We were told that the school had been closed.”

The sight of lorries parked in the school compound, ready to ferry them back home, made his heart sink even though he admits he was too young to understand what was happening. He was hardly 15.

He was later in the evening to learn that the place he called school had been set ablaze.

All the dormitories, carpentry workshop and the Administration Block were reduced to ashes since the authorities suspected that guns were being made in those buildings.

That was to be the beginning of his entry into murky waters of politics.

He says that growing up as a squatter subjected him to a politically conscious environment and he was determined to serve people.

Since delving into politics in 1959, he has remained relevant, something so rare to many politicians. GG Kariuki attributes this to his genuine desire to serve his voters.

“Politics, like religious ministry, is a calling. One must have passion in peoples’ problems and get involved in solving them,” he says.

“Many people have commercialised politics and manipulated the ignorance of their electorate to their advantage.”

Now a PhD holder, Kariuki opines that modern politics require education if one is to serve his subjects well. He is determined to use his knowledge to enhance his thinking and vision.

On choosing International Studies as his area of interest, he says that he wanted to understand the effects of pre-colonial and post-colonial developments on Kenya’s foreign relations.

At his age, he was not spared from the rigorous process that a PhD thesis is subjected to before being approved.

He had to sit and take instructions from his supervisor, professor Maria Nzomo.

He admits that one must be prepared for strenuous process since thesis goes through examiners and is “subjected to systematic revisions and refinements, including insertion of commas and question marks.”

Asked if it ever felt odd, he says: “I believe that serious students do not have time to think about the age and gender of their supervisors. In my case the gender issue or age did not arise.”

For many Kenyans, especially the upper class, the Kenyan education system is usually the last on their mind, at least going by the trends.

GG Kariuki advises those who have lost confidence in the country’s system to suggest ways of improving it as opposed to running to overseas institutions.

“I was privileged to undertake my education locally and abroad. I have confidence in the Kenyan system, especially the academic standards at the University of Nairobi,” he says. For the many years he has been in school, he says that one important lesson he picked is: Knowledge is power. One goes to school to be educated and once they acquire education they gain confidence in their everyday undertakings.

Like he always remarks, he has been here for long, and he knows it all.

He reflected on his 50 years journey in politics through Illusion of Power, a book he authored in 2001.

His life is not just about books and politics.

For many years, he was the patron and chair of the Tae Kwondo Association of Kenya and at one point became vice president of the International Tae Kwondo Association.

He participated in the sport up to Black Belt, Second Dan.

For a man who has served in all Kenya’s post-colonial regimes, he says PhD has advanced his understanding and knowledge of politics both locally and internationally.

So how many more years before he exits the political scene?

“Politics is a lifetime calling. Elective politics is however determined by the electorate who decide the capacity in which one is to serve them or exit. I respect the wishes of the electorate,” he says.