Veteran journalist Joseph Karimi passes on

Joseph Karimi

Veteran journalist and author Joseph Karimi has passed on at the age of 72.

Karimi, a former writer with The Standard and Nation newspapers, died Thursday at 3am.

Robert Wang'ombe, his eldest son, told The Standard at Karimi's home in Karia village near Giakanja in Nyeri town that his father passed on at Coptic Hospital, Nairobi.

"My father has been ailing for the last two months and he was taken to Coptic Hospital in Nairobi for treatment," he said.

Wang'ombe said Karimi complained of pain in the joints, prompting him to seek treatment.

The prolific journalist will be remembered for, among others, penning an investigative, albeit controversial story in which he claimed to have found Mau Mau fighter, General Stanley Mathenge, in Ethiopia.

The article led the Government to bring into the country an Ethiopian, Mr Lema Ayanu, amid pomp and colour. But the man, it turned out, was not the revered Mau Mau General, who is said to have fled to Ethiopia at the height of the freedom struggle.

Karimi also co-authored a book, 'The Kenyatta Succession' with another veteran journalist Philip Ochieng.

In 2013, Karimi released another book, 'Dedan Kimathi: The Whole Story'.