My your light shine on and light more

Great memories of our childhood friendship back home in Busia, the close family bonding between our two precious families and then later on in our pursuit to make ends meet in Nairobi....

We lived as nextdoor neighbors at NHC Langata until that time you encouraged me to get one of my own, which I did, hence becoming a proud home owner in Nairobi. We worked together at Makutano junction and other art projects because this is the trade we loved to do...

Charles, as a big brother and my senior in the acting industry, your wise words ever since I joined you in Nairobi from Mombasa, have never departed me and SHALL remain engraved in my heart and soul for as long as I live! 

Fare thee well big brother. We will keep pushing the wheel from where you left and rest assured that we'll not disappoint!

#MunguMbele

Bukeko rest in peace it has been a long journey. I remember coming back from mombasa after 5 yrs and found you had joined mbalamwezi players. By then I had moved to Phoenix players you joined us there and you always wanted to produce your own work. I remember Tonny Njuguna and I rehearsing at your house in Uhuru eastate as we fed on groundnuts when your preparing your first production. We met again on screen and the two of us used to be the villains in makutano junction. Always shared with me your ideas  From when your creating Papa and last year about your new company. We will miss you and will make sure we keep discipline and keep the flame burning on the silver screen. Make sure you tell the acting department in heaven to give you a creative role so that when the time comes and we join you it is easy for some of us to fit in 

This guy helped me debut on TV as an actress.I'll never forget him. A legend in the Kenyan entertainment industry. His immeasurable talent will never be encountered again. May God remember those he has left behind. Rest in peace Mr.Charles Bukeko.????????????

Tutaonana Baadaye. 

So much life to celebrate here. You were a gift. Thank you for the laughter and warmth you brought to me and my family during desperate times. Your work on earth is done. May you rest strong Bukeko Charles. 

A great thespian gone too soon. Papa Shirandula you entertained us for more than  a decade. You have undoubtly left big shoes in the acting fraternity. RIP papa Shirandula, dance with the angels.

One surefire way for people in the arts to annoy Charles Bukeko was to call him by the runaway character he created for television, Papa Shirandula. It is perhaps the person and the character only shared a body but were two very different people. Before he created the eponymous character and the television series, Bukeko was a highly decorated actor who featured regularly in stage shows by Phoenix Players at the Professional Centre in Nairobi. Expanding his stagecraft to creating and performing for television he was able to capture the contradictions of urban life encapsulated in the guy known to his family as an IT expert but struggling to make ends meet as a security guard. The crisis of Papa Shirandula’s character captured the yearning for dignity in the urban worker against societal expectations and the high dependency that is the bane of the African. Charles was humorous, deeply thoughtful and extremely generous. I have never got over missing his wedding especially since he went out of his way to invite me. His life has ended abruptly but he changed his universe and created hope in the performing arts irrevocably. We’re all in your debt as artists and Kenyans shapeshifting to navigate this life.

Eternal rest be granted unto him oh Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.