Veteran actor Mzee Ojwang, 78, passes on at KNH
What you need to know:
- Mr Ojwang' disappeared from TV screens early this year after he suffered from partial blindness.
- Mr Ojwang' became the image representing talented artists who become popular to millions of television viewers but whose lives take a turn for the worse after their on-screen careers.
- He worked as a technician at Mater Hospital for four years. Before then, he had worked at White Rose Dry Cleaners in Industrial Area.
Mr Benson Wanjau, famously known as Mzee Ojwang' Hatari, has died.
Mzee Ojwang, 78, died on Sunday evening while undergoing treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
He had been admitted to the hospital at noon on Sunday and passed on at 8pm, from what doctors said could be pneumonia.
Kenyans took to social media to eulogise the veteran actor after the news of his death.
“It was an honour to have interacted with you and the crew while at @KBCChannel1 #RIP great one,” Senator Naisula Lesuuda tweeted via @Lesuuda page.
The actor hit the news early this year after he suffered from partial blindness.
He was suffering in silence and it took the intervention of Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko, who rushed him to Loresho Hospital to see an ophthalmologist.
Since then, he had disappeared from TV screens.
The actor had come to represent the image of talented artistes who become popular to millions of television viewers but whose lives take a turn for the worse after their on-screen careers.
BUZZ ON SOCIAL MEDIA
After the buzz on social media under the hashtag #OkoaMzeeOjwang went down, little had been heard about him until the news of his death.
Mzee Ojwang started acting for Darubini on Voice of Kenya (now Kenya Broadcasting Corporation) in 1980. The programme was discontinued in 1985 when the comedy show Vitimbi started airing.
He acted as husband to Mama Kayai and as a proprietor of a popular eatery on the Vitimbi show, before his health deteriorated, marking his exit from television.
The veteran actor was born in 1937 in Nyeri.
He worked as a technician at Mater Hospital in Nairobi for four years. Before then, he had worked at White Rose Dry Cleaners in Industrial Area.
He is survived by his wife, Augusta Wanjiru and two children, Patricia Njeri and Michael Karira.
