By GPC Reporter
People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua is mourning her father, Mwalimu Jackson Karua, who died on Sunday shortly after she and her siblings visited him at his home in Kirinyaga.
Karua announced her father’s death in a statement, saying the family had spent time with him earlier in the day and sang his favourite gospel hymn, unaware that it would be their final moment together.
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“Earlier today, I went to Kirinyaga to visit my father. My siblings and I spent time with him and sang his favourite gospel hymn, never knowing it would be our last song together,” Karua said.
She said she received news of his death while travelling back to Nairobi.
“On my way back to Nairobi, I received the news that my beloved father had breathed his last,” she said.
Karua described the final hours with her father as a moment she would treasure, saying the family was grateful for the opportunity to sit beside him and spend time together.
“We were simply grateful to sit beside him, to see him and spend that time together,” she said.
Jackson Karua was a teacher and the father of eight children, including Martha, who is the second-born. The family was raised in Kimunye in Gichugu, Kirinyaga County, and Karua has previously spoken of the influence her parents had on her upbringing.
In her tribute, Karua recalled her father as a strong supporter throughout her education, legal career and public life, saying he believed in her before she had achieved anything that could be celebrated.
“My father believed in me long before I had achieved anything worth celebrating,” she said.
She described him as “a principled man, a teacher” who believed in character, education and doing what was right, adding that his greatest legacy to the family was the values he passed on to his children.
Karua said her father’s death was a loss not only to his children but also to his grandchildren, the wider family and the many people whose lives he touched.
She said she would particularly miss his voice, counsel and encouragement, as well as the reassurance of knowing that he was always there for her.
“I will miss having my father to turn to, but I will carry with me everything he taught me, the love he gave me, and the belief he always had in me,” she said.
“Thank you for believing in me, for standing beside me, and for loving me through every chapter of my life. I am deeply grateful to have been your daughter.”
