Dr Newton Wanjala Kulundu was a politician who combined a career in medicine and public health with a decade in Kenya’s Parliament, eventually rising to the Cabinet under President Mwai Kibaki.
Born on June 30, 1948, Kulundu grew up in Kakamega and received his early education at Navakholo Primary School before proceeding to Kakamega High School and Kenyatta College.
He later studied medicine at the University of Nairobi from 1971 to 1976 before obtaining a master’s degree in public health from Loma Linda University in California.
After completing his medical training, Kulundu joined the Ministry of Health in 1977. He served as a senior medical officer in several districts, including Kisumu, Kwale, Lamu and Kisii, where he was involved in immunisation programmes, training medical personnel and rural health policy.
In 1984, he moved to Brooke Bond Kenya, where he worked as a senior company doctor until 1997. During his time at the company, he developed an award-winning reproductive-health programme, adding to a professional record that had already been built around public health and community service.
Kulundu entered elective politics in 1997 and won the Lurambi parliamentary seat on a FORD-Kenya ticket. He retained the constituency in 2002 as the NARC political wave swept President Kibaki into power. During his parliamentary career, he chaired the Committee on Health, Housing, Labour and Social Welfare and became involved in national debates on HIV/AIDS, workers’ welfare and public health.
His political profile grew further after Kibaki appointed him to the Cabinet. Kulundu initially served as Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife before moving to the Labour and Human Resource Development docket.
His tenure in the environment ministry placed him at the centre of government efforts involving forests, wildlife and natural-resource management.
His later role as Labour Minister cemented his reputation among organised workers. Central Organisation of Trade Unions Secretary-General Francis Atwoli was among those who mourned him after his death, describing him as a reformist who pushed changes that benefited workers.
Atwoli specifically credited Kulundu with helping transform the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu into a stronger institution for training trade unionists.
But it was not his ministerial achievements alone that made Kulundu memorable.
One of the most striking episodes of his career came on October 24, 2007, when he clashed publicly with then US Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger during the launch of a report on human trafficking Kulundu criticised the United States and Britain over what he described as double standards in their treatment of African countries, turning the event into an unexpected diplomatic confrontation.
eports from the time said the exchange became so heated that Ranneberger snubbed Kulundu and eventually left the venue.
The incident reinforced the image of a minister who was prepared to challenge even powerful foreign representatives when he believed Kenya was being unfairly criticised.
Kulundu's political loyalty was also tested during the turbulent 2007 election period. He remained a supporter of Kibaki despite the political shift that saw ODM make major gains in Western Kenya.
He subsequently lost the Lurambi seat, bringing his parliamentary career to an end. Capital News later described him as a committed Kibaki supporter, particularly during the 2005 constitutional referendum and the 2007 campaigns..
After leaving Parliament and government, Kulundu largely disappeared from the political spotlight.
He died at Nairobi Hospital on March 7, 2010, after a prolonged illness. He was survived by his widow and six children.
More than a decade later, Kulundu remains remembered as a rare combination of professional and political identities: a doctor who served in Kenya's health system, a public-health specialist, a Lurambi MP and a Cabinet minister.