President Uhuru Kenyatta has sent a message of condolence to the family, relatives and friends of philosopher, scholar, author and Anglican Church minister Dr John Samuel Mbiti.
Dr Mbiti, 87, died last Sunday in Switzerland where he doubled up as a theologian and philosophy professor at the University of Bern and as an Anglican Church clergy in Burgodorf.
In his message of condolence, the President described the late Mbiti as an accomplished Kenyan scholar and priest who was a great ambassador of the Kenyan nation abroad.
“We’ve lost a great Kenyan. A great man who went against all odds to become a successful scholar, writer and priest. He was a role model and an ambassador of the Kenyan brand abroad,” the President wrote.
Dr Mbiti who earned his doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Cambridge in the UK in 1963, taught religion and theology at Makerere University between 1964 and 1974 before becoming the director of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland.
The late Mbiti wrote widely on philosophy, theology and African oral traditions and is best remembered for his book titled “African Traditions and Philosophy” published in 1969.
