Today, Kenya as a nation has woken to mourn one of their greatest actors. Hilarious and very educative actor known as
Mzee Ojwang of Vitimbi passed on yester night while receiving treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital. Reports indicates that Ojwang had chest complaints prior to his admission into the hospital.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has not been left behind in mourning this great icon in the field of acting and arts. The president has penned down one of the most emotional letter addressed to the family of the late Mzee Ojwang. In the letter the President has eulogized Mzee Ojwang as one of the best educators and entertainers to the Kenyan kids and the general public.
Here is the letter dated 13th July 2015…
I have learnt with great sadness about the passing of Benson Wanjau who was better known to all his fans in Kenya and beyond as Mzee Ojwang. Mzee Ojwang lived a full life of great artistic accomplishment.
His role as Mzee Ojwang is unforgettable and iconic. His devotion to that character and role was exemplary. Through it, Wanjau educated, informed and entertained Kenyans with unparalleled dexterity. He taught without sounding preachy, informed without boring anyone and entertained without becoming trivial.
Wanjau devoted his life to the development of his legendary character and with his troupe or alone he became a much loved national figure. He also inspired a long line of comedians and actors who seeks to replica his feats.
Without doubt, family television will not be the same without the promise of Mzee Ojwang regaling the nation with his antics.
National holidays will suffer the loss of a long standing figure of unstinting reliability in delivery. The entertainment industry will grieve a man of simple but ferocious loyalty to his trade, an inspiration and role model to countless aspiring stars and a pillar to the industry.
Mzee Ojwang as Mzee Wanjau was our nation’s kind teacher and gentle critic. He taught us through his ever green comedy, that we are never perfect but that learning from our mistakes and waking up from our folly places us on the redeeming path to continuous improvement. I have been a fan of his since i was a young star. He taught Kenya how to how to take itself more seriously by laughing at its own its own reflection in the mirror of drama which they hold before us.
He and his colleagues memorably demonstrated that the finest art and entertainment does not have to shed its social purpose. Rather it is possible for artists to deliver deeper into our condition and strive to help us seek the answer we all yearn
after.
He charmed many generations of Kenyans from all walks of life by completely embracing a new ethnic identity and showing that our struggles are not unique and that there is much more that unite than divide us.
I looked forward to socializing with Mzee Ojwang and other artists during the opening of the refurbished National Theater. My sadness is greater for the knowledge that this will not happen. On behalf of my government and the people of Kenya, I extend words of comfort, encouragement and condolence to the family, colleagues and friends of Mzee
Wanjau.
A great artist has taken his final bow. We salute him. A legendary Kenyan has gone to rest. We wish him a fitting farewell. May God give you the strength to bear his passing and may his soul find eternal piece in Gods Kingdom.
UHURU KENYATTA, C.G.H.,
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA.
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