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Retired Archbishop, Dr. David M. Gitari
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It is fate in life of any man born of a woman that life must come one day to an end. However, this departure sometimes is usually untimely and leave us in agony and pain when it gets us not prepared. It remains a fact that nature does not allow us to choose the path of our destiny, the path we choose can be overturned shoving us to where we least imagined. This can be a very painful realization. It is a fact of life that all men MUST die.
It was with great sorrow that I learned of the sudden demise of the Retired Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya Dr. David Mukuba Gitari. The late is remembered to have served as the third African archbishop in Africa. He stood and advocated for evangelism and equality of gender in church ordination.
Gitari's pastoral work, however, led him into
political controversy. He preached and campaigned against land grabbing by
powerful politicians, challenging economic injustice on a national as well as a
local level. In particular, he preached against constitutional changes which
introduced voting by queuing (in a specific place, publicly indicating your
chosen candidate) instead of by secret ballot. In 1988, he took the lead in
opposing the rigging of the general election during the infamous mlolongo
(queuing) voting system. He publicly condemned political assassinations and any
undemocratic political practices.
Gitari's deep concern for the Kenyan people was not without cost. On the night
of April 21, 1989, at the height of his struggle for justice, a large and
heavily armed gang of thugs numbering about 100 raided his house. They dug out
the security bars and shouted that they had come to kill him. He and his family
escaped to the roof and called for help from neighbors. Neighbors came to his
rescue just in time and the thugs fled.
It is with no benefit of doubt that all Kenyans of good will shall miss and remember him as a true, selfless, patriot to this noble nation.
Sons and Daughters have lost a loving, caring and responsible father of a Nation that might have never appreciated him while he lived.
In God's arms you rest, in our hearts you live foreFare thee Well, Till We meet Again.