Kenyan children don't know Martin Shikuku? Seriously?

Martin Shikuku when he addressed a Ford rally in Kamukunji in 1999. [File, Standard]

When veteran politician Martin Shikuku died in August 2012, young university students couldn’t make out who Shikuku was. “Who is this man the Media is talking about?” A curious student asked a fellow student. It was the student who had rudimentary information about Shikuku who told me about the total ignorance fellow students had about Shikuku.

I couldn’t help but sympathise with the students’ ignorance about one of the most compelling politicians Kenyans have had. Martin Shikuku was one of the founding fathers of this country who, at 28 years, was the youngest member of the Kenyan delegation to Lancaster House Conferences, England, where the independence constitution was carved.