How Kenya’s first ladies are a study in contrasts

Long before First Lady Rachel Ruto captured the collective national attention of Kenyans with her outspoken faith, Lorna Tungo Moi, the ex-wife of President Daniel arap Moi, is reported to have done something that cemented her place as a woman of great faith.

In Moi: The Making of an African Statesman, British biographer Andrew Morton narrates the events that followed the attempted coup ‘d’etat in August 1982:

During these hours of uncertainty, Moi ordered several lorry-loads of loyal troops to Kabimoi (farm) to evacuate his former wife Lena to a place of safety.

But Lena flatly refused to be evacuated. “Instead she invited the officers into her house telling them that she had a telephone that reached from Kabimoi to heaven. The men went inside and removed their caps while she knelt in supplication,” Morton writes.

As she prayed for Kenya, the biographer narrates that a soldier sitting outside listening to the radio suddenly cried out in delight. He shouted that Moi himself was on the radio saying that the enemy had been defeated. The officer then told Lena that her prayers had been answered.

At the time of the coup the couple had gone their separate ways, with Lena retreating to the farm to live a low-key life, but she still held a special place as the mother of Moi’s children.

We look at the first ladies Kenya has had and their influence on the national political and social scene.

Mama Ngina Kenyatta

One of the forever lingering images of our times as a nation is that of a sharply dressed Mama Ngina, hand on the heart, in a deep prayer as her late husband Jomo Kenyatta lies in state at Parliament buildings.

For many it would have been the end of an active life as a first lady and some would have receded into obscurity. But not Mama Ngina. She has earned her place in history as the first lady emeritus and although she officially moved out of State House nearly 46 years ago, her influence has never diminished. 

So much so that as late as last month, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua publicly apologised to her for inappropriate utterances during the 2022 election campaigns.

Those in the know say that Mama Ngina was a real power broker in the days her husband was the president. Apart from this, she also asserted her authority as a shrewd businesswoman, sitting at the top of the Kenyatta commercial empire with interests encompassing almost every sphere of trade from agriculture to education to insurance and banking and almost anything in between. The Kenyatta Succession by journalists Philip Ochieng’ and Joseph Karimi provides glimpses of how much power she exercised. 

With Daniel Moi succeeding Mzee Kenyatta and in a never revealed pact that only the Mois and Kenyattas seemed to know and understand, Mama Ngina was as influential in the administration of the second president and she ensured that the name of her late husband was respected to nearly being made sacrosanct.

When Moi, in his attempt to rehabilitate Kenya’s founding vice president Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, gave the man a job as head of Cotton Lint and Marketing Board, the outspoken Kenyatta critic went to a public meeting and made some unsavoury remarks against the founding father of the nation, saying he was a land grabber. 

It is claimed that a private but very strong complaint from Mama Ngina saw Jaramogi losing his new job.

With her son Uhuru Kenyatta as the fourth President, the grand old dame remained a powerful figure. In the run up to the 2013 presidential elections that Mr Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto won, Aden Duale’s For the Record describes Mama Ngina’s role in a prayer rally against the International Criminal Court cases. 

Mama Ngina’s revered space was only threatened by the wave Kenya Kwanza rode with into power, using their now famed call against dynasties. 

The lowest was when some youths raided a Kenyatta-owned farm on Thika Road and looted sheep.

Lena Moi

By the time Moi was ascending the presidency, their marriage had already gone south and looks like the two went to their graves with the reasons for the irretrievable breakdown. Before that Lena had been active in Moi’s life, especially when he was the vice president.

There has been speculations that Moi and Lena separated after she refused to participate in some social and political activities expected of the spouse of a powerful politician due to her strong Christian beliefs. There has been little proof of this. 

Be that as it may, Moi was once quoted saying of Lena: “I owe her much of my success in the service of my people and my country. She has always been an encouraging factor in all aspects of my political life.”

Rev Paul Barnett, who had known both Moi and Lena, was perhaps privy to the couple’s problems. He was the only one who agreed to be quoted talking of Lena and the breakup, but only saying: “It was for the best that they parted.” 

Lena left the vice president’s official residence at Nairobi’s Kabarnet Gardens and retreated to the couple’s Kabimoi ranch farm in Baringo. From here, she immersed herself into rural life, attending the local church, joining women’s groups, and keeping out of the glare of the media that she had become used to.

With Moi settling elsewhere with their children, Lena’s hope, according to Morton, was that Moi would return one day to the matrimonial home once he was done with politics. He wrote: “Even today she keeps a room of the house as a shrine to her former husband, believing that when he sets aside the cares of high office, he will return...”

Lucy Kibaki

This is how the respected The Economist wrote Lucy Kibaki’s obituary: “She had once been a headmistress, and you could tell. Her lips seemed perpetually pursed in disapproval, and she could chill at a glance. Grown men, from the toughest political operator to the chefs who cooked her husband’s food, quavered in her presence. For when Lucy Kibaki was in a temper, and she often was, there was no telling how things might unfold. The sack, a lash of the tongue, a public snub ostentatiously dealt, a flurry of fists; all were possible, unless you fled out of her way.”

This description captures what Lucy is remembered for, despite her other social engagements as first lady. Her power was also never in doubt. In his book, Duale talks of how she invited him to State House after he defended her and her family in Parliament. 

“Now, tell me: What is it you want? What is it that this government can do for you? Make a wish.”

Duale says he asked for the tarmacking of the Garissa-Modika Road, which had been frustrated for long. A contractor was on site within a month, even though “corrupt elements” ensured fewer kilometres were tarmacked. 

The Economist describes another infamous incident: “Her most infamous outburst came late one night in 2005, when she and her bodyguards burst into the offices of the Daily Nation, Kenya’s biggest newspaper. She had clearly been stewing all day over press reports of a visit she had made to a police station in an attempt to have her tenant, the World Bank’s representative, arrested for refusing to turn his music down.”

Margaret Kenyatta

At the inaugural First Lady’s Marathon in 2014, President Uhuru Kenyatta was at the finishing line giving his wife Margaret a memorable hug. With her laid back and easy manner, Margaret wormed her way into the hearts of Kenyans who loved her right back. 

Her Beyond Zero campaign targeting maternal healthcare made Margaret the darling of many even though critics questioned its viability. Unlike her mother-in-law Mama Ngina or Lucy, Margaret appears to have left no footprints in the political field, contenting herself with the charitable path she carved for herself.

Rachel Ruto

Rachel’s forte has been in the faith field and she has no qualms wearing her salvation on her sleeves. She has been in the forefront, praying for the country when bedevilled with problems or leading in thanksgiving when good tidings gladden the hearts of her countrymen.

Some time last year, the famed American-Canadian preacher Benny Hinn disclosed that Rachel had visited him in his church and requested that he holds a prayer crusade in Kenya. The first lady’s prayers were answered when Hinn held a weekend crusade in Nairobi in February of this year. 

Detractors have been quick to question the first lady’s faith, with some claiming that some of the items she has on her prayer agenda could be solved by simple government intervention. However, those who have known Rachel defend her faith and say she has been a staunch Christian for a long time, including during her university days.

However, it seems that Rachel’s influence is not only limited to the faith field. An article in this newspaper in October 2022 named her as one of the most influential people in Ruto’s presidency. As the spouse to the president, this would come as no surprise although to her credit, the first lady does not seem to flaunt this power and rub it into the faces of those she interacts with.

[email protected]