Bernard Mate
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Bernard Mate (1922 – 6 January 1994) was a Kenyan politician and one of the first group of Africans to be elected to the Legislative Council of Kenya (LegCo), the legislative arm of government in the British Colony of Kenya, representing what was the black constituency of Central Kenya. He served three terms in the LegCo until he lost his seat in 1979. He died on 6 January 1994, after a short illness. As a politician, he was part of the KADU's delegation to the Lancaster House conferences, which set the framework for Kenyan independence. He was described by Oginga Odinga as a philosopher.[1]
Education
Bernard Mate was born to M'Thura wa Rware and Ruth Igoji, who hailed from Mutuguni (near Nturiri). He was their fourth-born child and the first to survive childhood.
Bernard Mate enrolled in Ndiruini (now Kiereni) Primary School for his early primary education and sat his K.A.P.E and Chogoria Junior School. He entered Alliance High School in 1939, graduating in 1945 to pursue a diploma in teaching at Makerere University. He spent four years teaching at Chogoria High School, before enrolling for a Bachelor of Arts degree in the University of North Wales Bangor. He then pursued a postgraduate diploma at the University of Edinburgh.
Teaching career
Bernard Mate again returned to Kenya in 1954 and taught at the Alliance Girls High School for one year, before being transferred to the Government Teachers Training College Meru (now Meru Teacher's Training College). From 1957 to 1964 and 1970 to 1974, he taught at the Kilimambogo Teachers Training College, and was the founding headmaster of Ikuu High School, Chuka.