Maina Wanjigi, a former Cabinet Minister, has died at the Nairobi Hospital.

Wanjigi, who is the father of businessman-cum-politican Jimi Wanjigi, died at the age of 93.

Long before joining active politics, Wanjigi was an assistant agricultural extension officer in Nyeri District.

Maina Wanjigi’s achievements

Soon after Independence, he was appointed Director of Settlement by founding President Jomo Kenyatta. He was mandated to oversee the implementation of the 1 million acre settlement scheme.

In 1969, he joined active politics and contested in the Kamukunji by-election occasioned by the assassination of Tom Mboya.

As Kamukunji MP, Wanjigi initiated and developed the expansive Gikomba open-air market in his constituency. He also helped in establishing the jua kali industry informal sector in Shauri Moyo.

In 1973, Wanjigi made a passionate speech in Parliament, advocating for free primary education for all Kenyans, a fete that was realised in 2002 (29 years later) when President Mwai Kibaki rolled out the plan.

In 1970, President Jomo Kenyatta appointed Wanjigi as Bruce Mackenzie’s Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Wanjigi was among the politicians who, in 1976, were opposed to the change-the-constitution debate that was meant to bar Vice President Daniel Moi from being President Jomo Kenyatta’s automatic successor.

In November 8, 1979 General Election, Wanjigi lost his Kamukunji seat to Philip Nicholas Gor. President Moi would later, in December 1979, appoint Wanjigi as the chairperson of Kenya Airways.

In 1983, Wanjigi recaptured his Kamukunji Parliamentary seat in a snap elections. President Moi, in the same year, appointed Wanjigi to the Cabinet as Minister for Tourism and Wildlife.

In a series of Cabinet reshuffles, President Moi moved Wanjigi to the Ministry of Public and Housing, then to the Ministry of Cooperative Development, where he was among those who worked to establish savings and credit cooperative societies across all sectors in the country, then to the Ministry of Agriculture.

During the clamour for multi-party democracy in 1990, Wanjigi was expelled from the ruling KANU Party. In all these multi-party intrigues, Wanjigi was at one point arrested and held for three days at Lang’ata Police Station.

After losing the Mathioya parliamentary content in 1997, Wanjigi hanged his political boots and focused on his business empire under the umbrella Kwacha Group of Companies.