Joseph Daniel Otiende, born in 1917, was a Kenyan nationalist, and a prominent figure in Kenya's fight for independence. He was a cabinet minister in the first independence government contributing to nation building and development. He is now accredited with laying the foundations of the health and education services, and held in high regard as one of the few Kenyan politicians to shun the theory and practice of corruption, and for bowing out of politics at the right moment. This concise biography relates his early life, his work as a teacher during the colonial period, his political activities and his life after politics. It further sets his life into the wider context of a key period in Kenya's history, mediating historical events through the story of an individual, and outlining an individual's contribution to the shaping of history.