A look back: The big names that left us in 2018

Influential people who exited the stage included musicians, politicians and business people. [File, Standard]

Gabriel Omollo, the veteran Zilizopendwa musician remembered for the Lunch Time hit song, died on January 3 aged 79 years.

Omollo, who died at the Busia District Hospital, had also played a big part in the composition of the hit song Pole Musa composed by Peter Tsoti and his contemporaries who included the legendary Daudi Kabaka and Fadhili Williams.

The Ugunja-born singer worked for Equator Sounds Band from 1960 and later other groups including Eagle Blue Shades Band and Apollo Komesha Band.

Stephen Mutai M’Imanyara

The former long-serving national chairman of KTDA, prominent tea farmer and arguably one of Meru’s richest sons died mid-January.

Imanyara, who died at the age of 78, was a founding member of the Co-operative Bank, had diversified investments, including 1,000 acres of tea in Meru, ranking him as one of Kenya’s top two non-estate farmers.

One of the richest people in Meru, soft-spoken Imanyara owned buildings in Meru town and Makutano under Makutho House Ltd and controlling shares in Majani Gardens Ltd, Farmers Centre Ltd, Centreline Tea Brokers Ltd, Miti Limited, Kotnis Ltd and Giciaro Tea Estates Ltd. He also had properties in Nairobi, Mombasa, Isiolo and Ngong.

Ken Wafula

The former journalist who was the executive director of the Centre for Human Rights died on January 16 at a hospital in Eldoret after a short illness.

He will be remembered for the prominent, albeit controversial, role he played in the witness procurement saga between the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against Deputy President William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang.

Yvonne Wamalwa

The widow of former vice president Michael Wamalwa Kijana died at her sister’s residence in Nanyuki on January 25, 2018, aged 49.

The Cardinal Otunga Girls and Murdoch University graduate was survived by two children. She married the vice president in a much publicised wedding in 2003, only for Wamalwa to die a few months later aged 58.

She was later to benefit from appointment to various diplomatic positions, including that of deputy high commissioner to Australia and deputy permanent representative to UN-Habitat.

Kenneth Matiba

Former presidential candidate Kenneth Matiba died on April 15 after a long illness traced back to his one-year detention in 1990.

Paralysed and in a wheelchair, it had been a complete turnaround for the sportsman known for taking to the ring and conquering heights in his heyday.

He had also lost another shine by the time he passed on aged 85 – his mythical riches.

At his peak, Matiba had the Midas touch in his business ventures that included the flagship Alliance Hotels with a sizeable footprint in the South Coast and Mt Kenya, the international curriculum high-end Hillcrest Group of Schools, farming ventures in Limuru and Timau and lately a media publishing venture.

But almost all that went up in smoke when his promising political career saw him take on the establishment with an unprecedented zeal that made him the father of the second liberation movement.

Few things remained constant for the son of one of the earliest Alliance High School-educated school teacher and an assertive housewife. One was that he was defiant to the end, never wavering from a dangerous course he had resolved to take even as it cost him wealth, health and finally breath. Second, his maverick streak rolled on to the end when he became the first major political leader from his region to choose cremation.

Grace Jelegat Kipchoim

The second-term Baringo South MP succumbed to cancer on April 20, 2018, while undergoing treatment at a Nairobi hospital aged 56.

Despite being sickly throughout her campaign period, Ms Kipchoim was re-elected in a highly contested 2017 election for which she was unable to conduct a single campaign rally.

Kipchoim had vied for re-election on a Jubilee Party ticket and clinched the seat for a second time due to her development record and much appreciated efforts to restore sanity in the insecurity-hit constituency.

She was instrumental in fighting cattle rustling by Pokot raiders after being elected for the first time in 2013, inviting top security personnel, among them former Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and his deputy, Grace Kahindi, to the area.

The visits paid dividends when several youths were recruited as Kenya Police Reservists, providing the local community with security to fight the bandit menace.

Senator Ben Oluoch Okello

The former Ramogi and KBC radio presenter passed on at a Nairobi hospital on June 18 after a long battle with cancer.

Popularly known as BOO among his radio fans, the first-term senator had floored heavyweights in the 2017 Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) primaries and the election proper.

Trained at the South B-based Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC), his radio shows promoted patriotism and good governance for his listeners.

An obituary sponsored by the Migori County government in a national daily indicated Okello had four wives and over 25 children. The obituary described the senator as a true son, friend, media guru and leader.

His death paved the way for the comeback of former minister Ochillo Ayacko, who succeeded him on an ODM ticket.

Nicholas Bett

The former 400m hurdles world champion aged 28 died on the spot in an accident when he lost control of his Toyota Land Cruiser after it hit a bump at Sochoi in Nandi County on August 9.

The father of two was said to have had been talking to his wife on the phone when he crashed. He was on his way to pick up a friend two kilometres away at Koilot and planned to drive on to Kapsabet.

The vehicle rolled several times and Bett, who had just returned from the Africa Athletics Championships in Nigeria, was thrown out through the windscreen. He was alone in the vehicle.

Justice Samuel Ndung'u Mukunya

The Environment and Lands Court judge died in a September 13 midnight accident along the Nyeri-Nyahururu Road.

Justice Mukunya, who worked in Kerugoya, lost control of his Land Cruiser V8 and hit a Canter.

He joined the bench in 2015 during the last recruitment of judges and had previously worked at the Bungoma law courts.

Joseph Kamaru Macharia

The Kikuyu music legend who died on October 3 at the MP Shah Hospital of Parkinson’s disease was to many the community seer, to others the conscience of the nation while yet others viewed him as a philosopher whose songs could stir society.

Having composed over 2,000 songs, he was the unchallenged king of secular Gikuyu music.

The man who launched his career using a Sh30 guitar he had purchased working as a cook for an expatriate in 1969 recorded his first song with his sister Celina, Uthoni wa Mbathini, for which he was paid Sh10.

Kamaru’s biggest contribution to secular music perhaps remains his mentoring of upcoming musicians who would flood his recording studio in Nairobi.

The four Vohras

On October 21, four members of the Vohra family died in a road accident at Makindu, along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.

The Vohra family is one of the wealthiest in Kenya and co-owns the Sarova Group of Hotels and resorts with the family of former spy chief James Kanyotu.

Jane Mumbi Kiano

The former chairperson of Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 74 on October 26, 2018.

Married to former long-serving Cabinet minister Gikonyo Kiano, she had over 40 years of voluntary public service and leadership in the women’s movement and was MYWO chairperson from 1971 to 1984 and the National Council of Women of Kenya from 1999 to 2003.

Mrs Kiano also served as vice chairperson of the Nairobi City Commission and as a commissioner of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.

Retired Catholic Archbishop Emeritus John Njenga

Respected as one of the most self-effacing bishops in Kenya, he died in Nairobi on November 4, 2018 at Mater Hospital aged 90. Born in Limuru in Kiambu County, the son of peasant farmers attended Mang’u High School and was ordained priest at Kibosho Major Seminary in Tanzania in 1957.

In 1970, he was ordained bishop of Eldoret, in 1988 bishop of Mombasa and two years later he became archbishop.

Archbishop Njenga was the chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference, now Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, from 1976 to 1982. He served in Mombasa until his retirement in 2005. He was known for his crusade to improve education and lives.