People’s Liberation Party [PLP] leader Martha Karua has opened up about the final moments she shared with her father, Mwalimu Jackson Karua, while also revealing that his exact age remains a mystery within the family.
Speaking during a burial meeting on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Karua recalled that she was with her father only an hour before he breathed his last, describing the opportunity to say goodbye to him as a special favour from God.
Karua said she and other family members had already left for Nairobi after spending time with her father when they received a call informing them that he had passed away.
She explained that the family was forced to turn back after learning that he had breathed his last, making the moments they had spent with him shortly before their departure particularly significant.
“I was with my father one hour before he passed. We actually said goodbye and came to Nairobi, but we were actually called to turn back when he breathed his last. I think that is a special favour from God,” she said.
Karua also reflected on her father’s condition in the days leading up to his death, saying he had not been battling an illness but had become increasingly weak as his body appeared to be slowing down.
She said the family could see that he was becoming weaker and that his body was gradually shutting down, although they did not expect his death to come when it eventually did.
“Also, the part that he was not sick, he was weak, yes, the body was getting tired. We could see that the shutdown was coming and we did not expect it to happen when it did,” she said.
The former minister acknowledged the emotional weight of losing a parent, saying the family initially struggled to come to terms with his death as they cried and reflected on the many memories they shared with him.
She, however, said the family was gradually finding strength while also choosing to be grateful for the many years their father lived.
“And you think that you would feel the pain, but it is not okay. Before you come to terms, you cry, you think about many things, but we are getting stronger and remembering also to say thank you for all those years he lived,” she said.
Karua also revealed an unusual detail about her father’s age, saying the family has never been certain about the exact year in which he was born.
According to her, her father himself did not know the precise date of his birth, leaving the family to estimate his age by comparing important events in his life with the ages of people he taught.
“My dad is not one of those people who knew the exact date they were born. It is events that we were calculating with,” she said.
Karua explained that some of the people her father taught are now around 80 years old, providing the family with a reference point when trying to estimate how old he could have been.
She said that if some of his former pupils had joined school at an early age, their current ages would suggest that her father could have been even older than the family estimates.
“So maybe he was anywhere from 96 to 100 or 100 plus,” she said.
The uncertainty, she explained, stems from the fact that even her father did not have a definitive record of his date of birth that the family could use to establish his exact age.
“People who he taught, some of them are 80. If they did go to school early, you would then estimate his age beyond that, but because even he does not know the date of birth, we are just trying our luck around those years,” she said.
The former Justice Minister also indicated that she would give a more detailed account of her father’s life and final days during his burial.
“I will say much more on the day of the burial, and today let me just say thank you,” she said.
Mwalimu Jackson Karua died on Sunday evening, September 27, 2026, at the family home in Kimunye village, Kirinyaga County.
Earlier that day, Karua and her siblings had travelled to Kirinyaga to spend time with their father before beginning their journey back to Nairobi.
