Magana Njoroge Mungai, M.D. EGH (January 7, 1926 – August 16, 2014) was a doctor, Politician - Member of Parliament, Kenyan Cabinet Minister, Businessman, Farmer, Nationalist, one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.
Njoroge Mungai was educated at Alliance High School, Kikuyu, and was part of the famous class of 1946, of which six of its fourteen students were part of Kenya's first cabinet including his good friend and later successor in the Foreign Affairs Ministry Dr. Munyua Waiyaki. After high school, he would work as a bus driverl before joining the British Overseas Airways Corporation. He wanted to travel to the United States to study medicine but was denied a passport by the British authorities; he therefore attended Fort Hare University in South Africa where he studied Hygiene. Thereafter, his dream came true when he was accepted to Stanford Medical School where he graduated in 1957.
In independent Kenya, Njoroge Mungai would serve first as Minister for Health in which capacity he established Kenya's first medical school. He was later moved to the Defense Ministry and it was during his tenure there that the Shifta War between Kenya and Somalia broke out. He led a mediation team to Kinshasa which resulted in the Arusha declaration of 1967, bringing a close to the conflict. But he would gain fame during his term as Minister for Foreign Affairs. An astute diplomat, he successfully lobbied to have the United Nations Environmental Programme headquartered in Nairobi. He further successfully lobbied the African Union now called African Union to supply arms to forces fighting the Apartheid regime in South Africa and the Portugal colonial regime in Mozambique. Kenya also had a seat on the Security Council during his tenure and he was instrumental in pushing for sanctions against South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. Njoroge Mungai Tribute to Special cyprianfernandes.blogspot.co.ke August 2014 He was with Milton Obote at the Singapore Commonwealth meeting, pushing for the British to cease supplying arms to South Africa, when Idi Amin overthrew the Ugandan President. He famously restrained Obote from returning to Uganda where Obote would have been killed.
In business, Njoroge Mungai had a private clinic at Riruta, Nairobi, among other clinics, all of which he ultimately donated to the government. He would later start the Magana Farm in the 1960s where he practiced dairy farming. In 1973, he expanded his interests to real estate and information technology through Magana Holdings Limited. He would later venture into floriculture farming and established Magana Flowers Kenya Limited in 1994 on an 18 hectare farm. He served as the Chairman of Servair Investment Airport Kenya Limited and was instrumental in merging the airline catering company, NAS, with the French catering company, Servair, in 2010. In 2016, his name appeared in the Panama Papers data release as a shareholder of Bevatron Ltd, an offshore company with address based in Charlestown, Nevis.
Njoroge Mungai was honoured with a Commander of The National Order of Merit from the French government in April 2014 for his contribution to business, democracy and international diplomacy. Dr. Njoroge Mungai died on August 14, 2014, at the age of 88 at Nairobi Hospital. At his funeral, Kenya's President, Uhuru Kenyatta, was a pall bearer of his casket in his honour. It is the first and only time a sitting President of Kenya was a pall bearer. Uhuru wins admiration pallbearer role the-star.co.ke
|
|