Uhuru, Raila expected to attend Charles Rubia’s burial

Kenya’s first African mayor and second liberation hero Charles Wanyoike Rubia will be buried on Monday at his Murang’a home.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga are among the dignitaries expected to attend the ceremony.

Mr Rubia played as significant role in the struggle for multiparty democracy. He joined the late Oginga Odinga and Kenneth Matiba to oppose Kanu regime headed by former President Daniel arap Moi.

On Friday State House operatives escorted by Central Region Coordinator Wilfred Nyagwanga and County Security Committee visited Rubia’s home and Kariguini Primary School where the ceremony will take place. 

The team is said to have been sent by the State to ensure everything is in order.  

“The President will be attending (the burial) as a friend of the deceased and we have to ensure that everything is in order,” a top government official told the Nation.

LEE FUNERAL HOME

According to Rubia’s son Maurice Rubia, the body will leave Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi at 9am on Monday and arrive at their home at 11am where Anglican Church of Kenya Murang’a South Bishop Julius Karanu will preside over the burial ceremony.

 “The ceremony will take place at Kariugini Primary School since the school, we expect the President his deputy and Mr Odinga to grace the event,” Mr Rubia told the Nation on phone.

The body will be interred at his home which is about 800 meters from the school. The late Rubia was a neighbour to the late freedom fighter Bildad Kagia.   

Since Mr Rubia’s death, messages of condolences have been trickling down from leaders across the country with President Kenyatta and Opposition chief Raila Odinga leading Kenyans in eulogising him as an icon of Kenya's vibrant multi-party democracy.

Through State House Twitter handle, President Kenyatta sent a message of condolence to the family, friends and relatives of the veteran politician.

DEMOCRACY

"The President eulogised the former Minister as an icon of Kenya's vibrant multi-party democracy.

Opposition Chief Raila Odinga wrote: "The late paid a great price for his stand and was detained at the height of the struggle but he never wavered. I am proud to have known and worked with him. My condolences go out to his family at this difficult moment and may his soul rest in Eternal Peace."

Other leaders who have eulogised the long serving Cabinet minister are Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria and Senator Irungu Kangata who has been his lawyer.

Mr Iria said the agitation to multi-party democracy led to devolution.

"To me he is not only the father of democracy but also the father of devolution, due to his efforts, Kenyans were able to vote a new Constitution which ushered devolution," he told the Nation.

Senator Kangata said: "He fought tough battles for posterity, sacrificed his well-being for the good of many generations to come."  

AFRICAN MAYOR

Rubia was the first African mayor of Nairobi and later joined the National Assembly where he rose to the cabinet. In 1990, together with Hon. Kenneth Matiba, Mr Rubia led the calls for multi-party democracy and was subsequently detained by the Kanu government. He was released from detention after one year, and has been in poor health since. He was an MP for Starehe Constituency in Nairobi from 1969 to 1988.

Last year, Murang'a University of Technology honoured him with a Bachelor of Letters degree for his good work an event he graced together with Mr Odinga.

Until his death, the former political detainee had been in the courts demanding compensation claim of claim of Sh40 billion against the State for illegal detention and torture.

In the submissions, the 95-year-old gives a harrowing account of his own experience of torture, his reactions of resentment, anger, and bitterness, his loss of political and business opportunities and his search for some way to maintain moral character and be “human” again after detention.