Life and times jj kamotho

Former Cabinet Minister, Joseph
Kamotho, died on Saturday at a
South African hospital while
undergoing treatment.
The veteran politician, who served
as the longest serving KANU
Secretary General, died on
Saturday afternoon after suffering
a fatal heart attack.
The death of Kamotho has left the
country mourning with many
eulogizing him as a development
minded person.
Former President Moi who was a
close friend of Kamotho described
him as a brilliant, sharp and
fearless politician who stood to
his ideals irrespective of the
popular tide and performed his
duties with passion.
Kamotho was born in Muranga
County in 1942 and joined
Muthangari Primary School in
Murang’a in 1948.
He sat for the Common Entrance
Examination in 1952 and later
joined Njumbi Intermediate
School in 1955.
In 1958, he sat the Kenya African
Preliminary Examination and was
admitted to Nyeri High School. He
sat for the Cambridge Secondary
Education Examination in 1962
and obtained Division Two.
He then joined the East African
Customs and Excise and worked
as trainee customs officer in
Mombasa and later joined
Standard Chartered Bank.
But Kamotho was still hankering
for a university degree and he
applied for a Russian Scholarship
and in 1964 joined the Moscow
State University where he was to
study Economics but quit after a
year.
While in Moscow, Kamotho
applied and got a scholarship
from the Institute for
International Education, tenable
at the Syracuse University in the
US for a degree in Liberal Arts.
After completion of his degree in
US, he went to the UK for a
master’s degree in Development
Administration and Social Sciences
at the University of Birmingham.
He returned to Kenya 1968 and he
was given a job at the Kenya
Institute of Administration (KIA)
as a Lecturer.
Kamotho is survived by his wife,
Eunice and four children.