Jonathan Barasa

Jonathan Wasilwa Barasa was a renowned Chief who was born in 1916 in Sirisia, in Bungoma County to Wasilwa and Lumbasi. He went to Bitonge School at the age of seven and later attended Government African School, the present day Kakamega High School. At the end of primary school he was called to Alliance High School. However due to lack of school fees he went to Maseno and trained as a teacher under Carey Francis. He married Ruth Nanjala Murumba in a wedding at the Quaker Church in Bitonge, and they were blessed with ten children. He supported hundreds of children by mentoring them, paying their school fees and taking care of them. Barasa was a staunch Quaker who also respected and promoted the Bukusu culture. He was a member of the East African Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers).

Government Service and other Work

In 1947 he was appointed to the North Kavirondo Native Council. In 1950 he was appointed to the African District Council North Kavirondo with among other contemporaries; Senior Chief Laurent Ongoma, Livingstone Naibei, Henry Wanyonyi, Joseph Wafula Khaoya and William Chiuli. In 1952 he was appointed member of the Western Regional Education Board. In 1954 he was appointed member of Nyanza Province Cotton and Lint Marketing Board by the then Agriculture Minister, Bruce Mac Kenzie. In 1965 he was appointed member of the advisory committee for primary and secondary education by the then Minister Njoroge Mungai. In 1969 he was chairman of Mt. Elgon Bungoma District Cooperative Society.

Jonathan worked in the civil service between 1945 and 1976. Before he retired from government service in 1976, he had traveled abroad widely, visiting Tanzania, Uganda, England, Scotland, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Malta, Egypt, and United States of America.

Other Achievements

Among his many achievements is helping to set up Friend School Kamusinga and Lugulu Girls High School. These are two schools that have had a major impact among the Bukusu especially in the wake of Kenya's Independence. He established Namang’ofulo DEB School and Chwele Girls Secondary School. He contributed significantly to the modernization of the present day Bungoma and Busia counties. He ensured that children from this area got the best possible opportunities to attend school from the 1940s to the 1990s.

He is remembered very well as a Senior Chief a position he held for many years. His contributed immensely towards promoting agriculture, soil conservation, home improvement, rain water harvesting and improved health services. His contribution to the Bukusu and the Bakiyabi is immense. He also actively and centrally participated in the translation of the first Bukusu Bible as team leader in the Lubukusu Bible Translation Committee. He died in December 1997.

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