He was born in Chebukwa, Kakamega County on January 31, 1923. He served as a cardinal and Archbishop emeritus of Nairobi and Military Ordinary emeritus for Kenya.
A former alumnus of Mangu High School, he acquired training from the Kakamega seminary and studied theology at Propaganda Fide College. He was ordained a priest in 1950 at the Pontifical Urban University.
He became the first Roman Catholic cleric from Kenya to accede to the status of Cardinal and Archbishop in the Roman Catholic Church. He will be remembered for focusing his evangelism on bonding with the poor and detaching of oneself from material possessions. The Late Margret A. Ogola co-authored with Margret Roche in ‘A Gift of Grace’, a book that embraces his biography.
To honour his commitment as a Servant of God, a group formed the Cardinal Otunga Nairobi Trust that owns and runs the Cardinal Maurice Otunga School and offers bursaries to needy children in Kenya.
The world is waiting for his canonization this is after the Vatican accepted the request to start the process of beatification. This would make him the first Kenyan Saint. Archbishop Nzeki, a big admirer of Otunga way of life has been in the frontline to have him beatified.
He died of a heart attack on September 6, 2003.
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