Tributes flow as GG Kariuki is buried

Mourners carry the coffin containing the body of GG Kariuki at Nyahururu Airstrip on July 14, 2017. Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki said GG Kariuki never despised the young politicians. PHOTO | JOSEPH KURIA

What you need to know:

  • Prof Kindiki said he was always the first to arrive in the House and the last to leave the chamber.
  • Retired President Mwai Kibaki also eulogised the senator as a man who earned his appointments in government.

Veteran politician GG Kariuki received glowing tributes from mourners who attended his burial ceremony at his Rumuruti farm on Friday, with calls for peace dominating the speeches.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto led thousands of mourners in paying their last respects to the Laikipia senator.

The plane carrying the senator’s casket touched down at Suera Nyahururu airstrip shortly after 9.30am where it was received by Kiama elders.

LAST RESPECTS

During the ceremony, the senator’s daughter read the eulogy on behalf of her siblings and his grandchildren.

The tribute by the senator’s wife, Gladys, was read by Ms Jane Kiano.

Mr Ruto described the senator as a practical politician who was active even in his old age.

From the Senate, where he was nicknamed Senator No 1, his colleagues among them senators Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo-Marakwet), Wilfred Lesan (Bomet), Muriuki Karue (Nyandarua), Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho), Naisula Lesuuda (nominated), Mutahi Kagwe (Nyeri ), Kiraitu Murungi (Meru), Daniel Karaba (Kirinyaga) and Gideon Moi (Baringo) were among those who paid their last respects.

PUNCTUAL
Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki said even though he was very experienced in politics, he never despised the young politicians and spoke to them like a father.

He was always the first to arrive in the House and the last to leave the chamber, Prof Kindiki said.

“He corrected us when we were wrong. That’s the man we bury today,” he said.

ACTIVIST
Retired President Daniel arap Moi said Dr Kariuki’s death left him with a great sense of loss.

“He was a vibrant young man then (1950s) who agitated for independence, impatient with colonialism, owing to what he had witnessed among Laikipia squatters as they struggled for emancipation,” Mr Moi said in his tribute delivered by his son, Gideon.

QUALIFIED

Retired President Mwai Kibaki also eulogised the senator as a man who earned his appointments in government.

“He leaves behind a loaded legacy, which can benefit those coming up,” he said in a tribute delivered by Mr Nderitu Muriithi, a Laikipia gubernatorial aspirant.

Conservationist Kuki Gallman of the Laikipia Nature Conservancy in her tribute said the senator called her Nyawira.

“I have known you for 40 years since your hair was black and mine was blonde, since when you went around on a bicycle,” she wrote.

BANDITRY
The speeches were marked with calls for peace as Laikipia has recently been in the grip of banditry.

The President warned bandits causing terror and destruction in the region that they would be dealt with ruthlessly.

The President assured Laikipia residents of peace in Laikipia County.

“To Laikipia leaders, for some time we have had many problems. I will say it openly here because we stand for truth.

"Let there be not be a person who will have the thought of causing problems in this region,” the President said, adding that peace was what Dr Kariuki always sought for the Laikipia people.

Leaders from the region also called for peace, with Senator Moi from the neighbouring Baringo County proposing a meeting of leaders from the four counties in the region to find a solution.