Former Member of Parliament (MP) and Kenyan Ambassador Professor Filemona Fundi Indire is dead. Born in March 1930, Prof. Indire was a politician who served as a nominated MP between 1983 and 1988.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi on Saturday, March 15, announced his death in a condolence message to his family, relatives and friends.
PCS Mudavadi mourned the former nominated MP as a thoroughbred educationalist and intellectual with a long history of firsts, adding that he had unlimited faith in the goodness of people.
He added that the late Professor was a mentor who nurtured young minds as a lecturer and as a professor, inducted many into university lecturers.
Musalia further highlighted that Indire was the first professor of education in Kenya who spearheaded the establishment of Kaimosi Friends University (KAFU).
“Other than being among the first few African professors after Kenya’s independence, he was the first Professor of education in Kenya, and among the pioneer lecturers who were tasked with Africanising the then only University of Nairobi (UON),” said Mudavadi.
“To grow his stature as an academician, Prof. Indire displayed the virtues of patience; one with the perseverance of an Eagle; dedicated and passionate.”
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Professor Filemona Fundi Indire
Indire also served as Kenya’s Ambassador to Russia (then called the Soviet Union) in the 1960s during Kenya’s first President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s tenure.
He then served as a lecturer at UoN and served as the Chairman of Kenya’s National Council for Science and Technology in the 1970s.
He was Chairman of the Friend’s World Committee for Consultation Africa Section, a Quaker organization that works to communicate between all parts of World Quakerism.
Professor Indire wrote several books including A Comprehensive High School Curriculum Proposal for Reviewing and Revising the Program of Chavakali Secondary School, Maragoli, Kenya (1962), a study that centered on the development of a curriculum which would assist in adequately meeting the needs of high school students in Western Kenya.
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Another study that the Proffessor wrote, was a series of 15 books in collaboration with John W. Hanson, Secondary Level Teachers: Supply and Demand in Kenya.
Indire was a member of the Commission of Inquiry into the Education System of Kenya commonly referred to as the Davy Koech Commission established in May 1998, by the president of Kenya at the time, Daniel Arap Moi.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, on his part, has mourned Indire for his scholarly rigor, pedagogical acumen, and unwavering commitment to mentorship which the Speaker said have left an indelible imprint on generations of educators and researchers.
“His diplomatic service as Kenya’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union, his tenure as a nominated Member of Parliament, and his stewardship of the National Council for Science and Technology attest to his dedication to national progress,” noted Wetang’ula.
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