From helping draft Kenya’s first constitution to getting jailed by Kenyatta for saying Kanu is dead, Martin Shikuku teamed with Masinde Muliro to stage a movement in 1991 that forced President Daniel arap Moi to eventually deposed independence party Kanu from power.

This is what is known today in Kenya as Second Liberation that restored multi-partyism in a country that had endured one-party tyranny for nearly three decades.

According to a 1962 Legislative Council (Legco) Hansard – a parliamentary record) – when Jomo Kenyatta was getting ready for release from detention, top Kadu leaders Martin Shikuku, Masinde Muliro, Ronald Ngala and John Keen mobilised 400 British sterling pounds – then, a healthy sum of money – to build him his first house after detention in Ruiru. The construction of the house was supervised by Shikuku and John Keen.

By contrast, Kanu leadership that consisted of Jeremiah Nyagah, James Gichuru, Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, among others, were busy soliciting for funding from the ‘Casablanca Group’ in northern Africa. The funds meant to finance the party’s the General Election in 1963 after internal self-rule, were instead diverted to personal businesses, alcohol and women.

Undeterred, Shikuku built a house for Jomo Kenyatta.

‎Christmas day not only gifted us Jesus Christ, but also Joseph Martin Shikuku Oyondi who was born on Christmas Day in 1932 in Magadi, near then Kenyan coast. That is why Kenyan politics never had a dull moment after his arrival in the world.

His entire life was a celebration of humanity.

Born to John Osule Oyondi and Lucia Andeche, who had married in a Catholic church back in 1929, Shikuku was the second born in a family of seven children. From the word go, it was clear the man was not cut for the backbench of life.

‎He began his education at St Peters Mumias Boys Primary School, a Catholic institution in Kakamega, western Kenya. Later, he joined St Peters Seminary in Mukumu in Kakamega to prepare for a life as a Catholic priest. But somewhere along the way, Cupid sent an arrow to his heart after camping outside the seminary gates, which changed his story forever. He chose skirts over robes. The priesthood lost a candidate and Kenyan politics gained one of its loudest, boldest and illustrious politicians.

‎Before politics came calling, Shikuku briefly worked at Caltex Oil Company as a clerk and later with the East African Railways – again as clerk.

Kenyans all remember Caltex Oil Stations before it rebranded to Total. But office work and timetables could never contain him for long.

At 19 years old on October 18, 1952, he plunged into politics – an arena where he would become both feared and unforgettable. Nine years later, at 28, while most young men were still figuring out life, Shikuku was already representing Kenyan youth at Lancaster House Conferences in England. He attended as the youth representative for KADU alongside leaders who were negotiating the future independence of Kenya.

Not only did he witness history being written but also helped draft Kenya’s first Constitution.

‎However, before KADU he was a member of the Nairobi People’s Convention Party (NPCP) and quickly rose to become secretary-general.

Later, he crossed over to KADU as a youth leader together with future President Daniel Moi and Ronald Ngala.

In 1963, Shikuku won the Butere Constituency parliamentary seat on a KADU ticket. When KADU eventually merged with KANU, Shikuku became the very last member to cross the floor and join the new one-party government. Typical of Shikuku, he was never in a hurry to follow the crowd.

‎He retained his Butere seat in 1969 and was appointed assistant minister in the office of the vice-president and home affairs by President Jomo Kenyatta.

Shikuku had a gift of the garb that spared nothing, nobody – particularity on matters related to the law and constitution. It is this trait in him that led him to metaphorically refer to then KANU government as “dead.” Kenyatta did not find the joke amusing.

In fact, he didn’t love such kind of jokes. He sent Shikuku to prison to tell those kind of jokes there. He regained his freedom when Daniel arap Moi became President in 1978 following Kenyatta’s death.

‎The following year, he reclaimed the Butere parliamentary seat and was appointed assistant minister for livestock development. He held onto the seat in the 1983 elections before eventually losing it in 1988.

‎Then came the 1990s, when Kenya’s one-party system began developing cracks bigger than potholes after a rainy season.

Shikuku was a founder member of Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) pressure group alongside Masinde Muliro, Japheth Shamalla, James Orango, George Nthenge and Phillip Gachoka (who represented Kenneth Matiba). But like many political friendships in Kenya, the outfit soon after the state gave in to pressure to expand the political and democratic space.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who had been released ‘house detention’ Bondo, formed Ford-Kenya while Shikuku teamed up with Kenneth Matiba in Ford Asili.

‎The 1992 General Election became Kenya’s first multiparty election since the 1963. Matiba ran for President under Ford Asili, while Shikuku successfully recaptured the Butere MP seat on the same ticket. Later, after Matiba left Ford Asili, Shikuku himself became the party’s presidential candidate in the 1997 elections. The votes did not favour him, and he also lost his parliamentary seat.

‎Away from politics, Shikuku married Dolarosa Elizabeth Regina Achieng on September 24, 1966. Together they had four children: Sylvano Madanji Shikuku (born 16 November 1966), Emmanuel Noel Osyle Shikuku (born December 16, 1968), Lucia Awori Shikuku (born June 30, 1971) and Martina Maende Shikuku (born January 26, 1974), who sadly died on November 6, 2016.

‎Joseph Martin Shikuku Oyondi passed away on August 22, 2012, at the Texas Cancer Centre in Hurlingham, Nairobi, aged 79.

With the final bow, Kenya lost one of the few and most illustrious politicians who gave Kenyan parliament credibility.

His straight talk annoyed presidents without blinking and still walk with his head held high with an aura that was impossible to ignore.

• A Tell Media report / Source: Dimp Unfiltered