Njoroge Mungai

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.

Early life and education Njoroge Mungai was born in Gichungo village, in Kiambu in colonial Kenya. His parents, Leah Gathoni Kūng'ū and George Segeni Njoroge, were pioneer Christians who attended Church of the Torch which had been founded by the famous Church of Scotland minister, John William Arthur. After high school, he would work as a bus driverl

Political life and business activities Njoroge Mungai was a first cousin to Kenya's first President, Jomo Kenyatta. He was intrigued with Kenyatta's political ideology and the ideals of achieving freedom for Kenya. He soon joined the Kenya African National Union, Kenya's freedom party, for which he served as the organization's Secretary. He led a mediation team to Kinshasa which resulted in the Arusha declaration of 1967, bringing a close to the conflict. 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. 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 flower farming and established Magana Flowers Kenya Limited in 1994 on an 18 hectare farm.

Personal life Njoroge Mungai was married and the father of six children. In the late 1990s, he was estranged from his wife, Lillian Mungai, and they were engaged in court battles over some of the properties they jointly owned. In the latter years of the Kenyatta Presidency, he controversially led a faction that tried to prevent the vice president Daniel Moi from ascending to the Presidency which would have been unchallenged if Kenyatta died. It was a move that was thwarted by the leader of the Moi faction, AG Charles Njonjo. His opposition to South Africa and British involvement was considered one of the factors that he lost to Njonjo. In 1974, he lost his Parliamentary seat in Dagoretti South but was later nominated as a Member of Parliament. 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.