Matiba set to be cremated as family obeys his wishes

Anxiety has gripped residents of Murang’a County following reports that fallen politician and multi-party crusader Kenneth Matiba will be cremated in Nairobi later this week.

Yesterday, the veteran politician’s rural home in Mukangu village, Kiharu constituency, which he had christened “Embassy Home” when he was alive, remained under lock and key, with funeral meetings taking place at his Riara Ridge home in Limuru, Kiambu County.

It is the little activity at the heavily guarded home that sparked anxiety among villagers that the man who had served them selflessly as Member of Parliament and later Cabinet minister before he resigned to lead the push for political pluralism may not be buried amongst them.

TWO SERVICES

Obituaries placed in local newspapers since his death at the Karen Hospital last Sunday did not specify the date and place of burial, only indicating that there would be two funeral services for Matiba, the first one at the All Saints’ Cathedral in Nairobi on Wednesday, April 25, followed by another one at Ihura Stadium, Murang’a, the next day. Today, a remembrance service will be held at his Riara Ridge home in Limuru starting at 4pm.

A well-placed source in the committee organising the politician’s final journey told the Sunday Nation in strict confidence that it had been agreed upon that the politician be cremated at the Lang’ata crematorium in Nairobi on Friday.

“The committee has tentatively agreed that Mzee will be cremated in Lang’ata on Friday according to his wishes which the family felt it has a duty to honour. There will be a funeral service in Nairobi on Wednesday and at Ihura Stadium on Thursday before the cremation on Friday, which will be largely a private family affair,’’ the source revealed.

NO FANFARE

Contacted, Matiba’s daughter Ivy declined to comment on the matter, saying she was not the family spokesperson. “Kindly, I am not the family spokesperson so I cannot comment, but I will get the spokesperson to comment on the issue,” she told the  Sunday Nation.

The politician was way back in January 1994 quoted in a local daily as expressing his wish to be cremated instead of being buried with pomp and fanfare.

“If a man was not assisted while he was alive, why should people raise funds for him after he dies?” Mr Matiba, then Ford Asili leader, was quoted as saying, adding that when he dies, there should be no funds drive or parties and that his body should be cremated.

True to his wishes, no fundraising meeting has been held to collect money for funeral arrangements this far, as is common in the country, even when wealthy people die.

Yesterday, retired President Mwai Kibaki visited the Riara Ridge residence to condole with the family.

'GOD'S PLAN'

Mr Kibaki arrived at the homestead at about 1.35pm and left two hours later without addressing members of the press. No family member or relative spoke to the media.

The retired president, while greeting the widow Edith Matiba, only said in the Kikuyu, “It’s God’s plan.”

Security was tightened with police officers in the compound checking and clearing all visitors getting into the home.

At the homestead, a number of workers could be seen clearing the compound and sprucing up some of the buildings.

When the Sunday Nation visited the Mukangu rural home where Mr Matiba was born, we found no activity going on with the big black metal gate leading to his expansive compound locked and officers from the General Service Unit patrolling outside.

SEND-OFF

Mr Kariuki Kimani, a villager, said that it was the wish of many Kiharu residents that Mr Matiba is buried there.

“It is us the constituents who were led by Mr Matiba who know his importance, and I urge the family to consider bringing his remains home so that we can get a chance to give the fallen hero our last respects,” Mr Kimani said.

Another villager, Ms Wanjiru Ngamau, said the Matiba family should announce where he will be buried so that, if by any chance they decide to settle on Limuru, Kiharu residents will have the time to make travel arrangements to give their hero a befitting send-off.

COMMITTEE

But Mr George Gachugu, Mr Matiba’s first cousin and vice-chairperson of Wangu Investments, a co-operative society established by the veteran politician in the 1970s, said the family would make public the funeral plans “soon”.

“I urge Kenyans to be a little bit patient as we shall be announcing whether or not to cremate Mr Matiba,” Mr Gachugu said. Among those in the funeral committee are Cabinet secretaries Fred Matiangi, Joe Mucheru, James Macharia, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, PS for Interior Karanja Kibicho and family members led by Matiba’s eldest son Raymond.