G.G. Kariuki has left behind a very big family

One morning in March 1980, the then youthful Minister of State in the Office of the President, Hon Godfrey Gitahi Kariuki, visited our harambee school which he had helped put up. To the assembled 40 or so pairs of young eyes, G.G., as we knew him, epitomised power and status. We were awed by his entourage and the mean-looking security men with bulging pockets.

That day, he encouraged us to work hard and catch up with those who had overtaken us on the trans-Laikipia academic highway.

G.G. had a way with words and I would later on enjoy his unique style of “looking for votes”. My encounters with him will remain in my living memory an impression of a selfless leader who had an “illusion of power”, to borrow his own phrase.

Thirty-five years later, in March 2015, I met G.G. at Leisure Lodge Hotel in Diani on the margins of the 17th Ambassadors/High Commissioners biennial conference. He made his statement to the conference in his capacity as former chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations, Senator and one who had living memories of Kenya’s early diplomacy. I was, by then, in diplomacy and we had a hearty chat.

In G.G.’s death, Kenya has lost a very rich “African Library” and master strategist. He leaves behind a very big political, business and academic family.

Fare thee well, Hon Kariuki.

Johnson Weru is Kenya's ambassador to Belgium and the European Union.