Background
He was born in 1918 at Shigaro, Wundayi in aita district of the Coast Province.
He was born in 1918 at Shigaro, Wundayi in aita district of the Coast Province.
He was graduated from the Alliance High School.
Starting as an assistant district officer in Taita in 1953, he rapidly rose in the provincial administration, becoming District Commissioner in Kitui in 1962 and Senior District Commissioner in Mombasa in 1963. On independence he was appointed Kenya's first Ambassador to France and West Germany between December 1963 and September 1966. He returned to become Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence between 1966 and 1968. In 1968-9 he was appointed chairman of the East African Harbours Corporation based at Kilindi in Mombasa.
In December 1969 he resigned his appointment to contest the Wundanyi, Taita constituency against his former student Dawson Mwanyumba, then the Minister of Works.
He won and was immediately appointed Minister of Tourism and Wildlife. He had already played a major part in encouraging the West German package tour industry when ambassador and had opened the Kenya Tourist Office in Frankfurt. As minister he continued to boost the industry which has become Kenya’s most dynamic foreign exchange earner.