Rosemary Alakie: Tom Mboya's eldest daughter from first marriage dies in Nairobi

The late Rosemary Alakie Mboya in a photo shared by the family on December 15, 2022. [Courtesy, Standard]

The little-known eldest daughter of freedom fighter and independence era pioneer minister Tom Mboya has died.

Rosemary Alakie Mboya died at Coptic Hospital in Nairobi on Thursday after a four-year battle with breast cancer.

She was a thespian and at one point a director of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).

Rosemary was born in 1953 from Mboya's traditional marriage to school teacher Margaret Ogweno.

Rosemary, who was married but had no children, was educated in the United States. She once served as branch manager for Standard Chartered Bank in Ruaraka, according to her sister Pamela Obonyo, 61.

Rosemary and her younger sister Jane Akinyi Mboya (born 1958) had been the only children from the traditional marriage of Margaret Ogweno and the famous politician who was assassinated along Government Street (now Moi Avenue) in 1969.

Rosemary was brought up largely by Pamela Mboya, whom Tom Mboya married in church in January 1962.

The wedding at St Peter Claver's Catholic Church in Nairobi was presided over by Nairobi Archbishop JJ McCarthy and witnessed by 1,000 guests.

Rosemary's siblings are among the active members fundraising for her sendoff alongside Rotarians.

Rosemary allegedly left her bank job because it was inconsistent with her faith after joining Legio Maria, an African-initiated religious movement among the Luo people of western Kenya

She lived in Donholm, Nairobi with her family and will be buried on December 22 at Kakola village in Kano, Kisumu County.

"We felt it would be a disservice to our sister that her death remains unknown to the world when she had a famous father and was famous in her own right as a thespian, former director of the KBC and a Rotarian," Ms Obonyo said in Nairobi yesterday.

She added that Jane Akinyi, Mboya's other daughter would be flying home for the burial from Britain where she has lived for several years working as a nurse.

Rosemary's mother later married an East African Ports and Harbours cargo handling employee Jacob Okoth shortly after divorcing Mboya and had other children, among them Ms Obonyo.

In an interview last year, Margaret declined to say why she divorced Mboya a few years after they were married.