Here Are 10 Kenyan Personalities Who Died In 2019
We are winding up the year 2019. And like every other year, this year had its good and its bad sides. While all of us would choose happiness and joy if we were asked to choose what we would like our lives to be, we have no control over misfortunes that befall us.
Death is inevitable and it hits when least expected. When it comes, it robs families, relatives, friends and even a nation of loved ones.
2019 was marked with deaths that shook the country and in this article, we have compiled a list of Kenyan personalities whose deaths shook the country.
Bob Collymore
The late Safaricom’s CEO succumbed to Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) on the 1st of July 2019 at his Kitisuru home in Nairobi. In his ten year tenure, Bob was said to have engineered great innovations and taken Kenya’s giant Telco to great heights. His death shook the country and the world that Monday morning.
Millions of Kenyans went to social media sites to mourn and pay tribute to a man most described as smart and kind. One thing that stood out about him during this time was the fact that he was ready for his death. He knew he would not live past July 2019.
Ken Okoth
Ken Okoth was a Member of Parliament for Kibra Constituency. He succumbed to Colorectal Cancer on 26th July 2019 after a fierce battle with the disease. He was one vibrant individual that even on his hospital bed could still manage to be strong and even make plans for his constituents.
He had undergone treatment in France, after which he came back home and was taken to The Nairobi Hospital. At the time of his death, reports from the family indicated that he had multiple organ failure shortly after being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Joyce Laboso
The late Bomet County Governor Joyce Cherono Laboso also succumbed to cancer on 29th July 2019 after a 28 year battle with the disease. She was first diagnosed with cancer in 1991 and was on remission before her condition deteriorated again.
She sought treatment in the United Kingdom and India, and finally at The Nairobi Hospitals VIP’s ward until the time of her death.
Governor Laboso tossed herself into politics after her sister’s Sotik MP Lorna Laboso’s death.
John DeMathew
The Gikuyu Benga musician died in a tragic road accident on the Thika Super Highway where his car rammed into a lorry from behind.
The musician, whose death occurred on 18th August 2019, was said to be loved and hated in equal measure. He was known to compose songs that touched on politics which apparently rubbed some people the wrong way.
In his lifetime, He had released 50 albums and 375 songs.
Jonathan Moi