End of an era as Mzee Jomo Kenyatta dies

The funeral procession for the late President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta on August 31, 1978. Kenya was engulfed in grief following the death of the founding president. PHOTO|FILE.

What you need to know:

  • Mzee Kenyatta had died in his sleep while on a working holiday in Mombasa.
  • For the next one week, the country was in mourning.
  • It was on August 31, 1978 that world leaders and delegations converged on Nairobi for the final farewell to one of Africa’s revered statesmen.

It was the darkest hour in Kenya’s history. The country was engulfed in grief following the death of founding President Jomo Kenyatta.

It was the end of an era and the beginning of another that came to be known as Nyayo era.

At exactly 3 pm, the following day Voice of Kenya veteran broadcasters Nobert Okare and Hassan Mazoa went on air to announce the death in English and Kiswahili respectively.

Mzee Kenyatta, they said, had died in his sleep while on a working holiday in Mombasa.

The government’s top machinery led by Head of Public Service Geoffrey Kariithi had been working for a smooth transition of power to Vice-President Daniel arap Moi.

The announcement came as Mr Moi was being sworn in by Chief Justice James Wicks at State House, Nairobi.

For the next one week, the country was in mourning.

The world media and statesmen eulogized Kenyatta as a colossus.

Remembered

The Paris-based International Herald recalled Kenyatta had lived to prove that he was not “a leader to darkness and death” as the colonial government described him.

To the contrary, he was “a statesman of one of Africa’s stable and strongest economies, who Kenyans likened to (founding US President) George Washington.”

The Guardian was more poetic in its editorial pages.

“The death of Jomo Kenyatta leaves the ranks of African politicians a gap the size of a colossus. He gave Kenya tranquility in a turbulent continent.

‘‘His name will be remembered along with that of Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Patrice Lumumba (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Abdel Nasser (Egypt).”

As some Kenyans filed past his coffin made of Africa oak with silver lining inside in State House, Nairobi, they fainted and wept.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, his first Vice-President, with whom they had fallen out politically wept too after saying a prayer in Dholuo.

He put behind memories of his detention to tell the media he did not have differences with the fallen statesman.

“The only difference was on how things are done,” he said.

Moi

Paul Ngei, his friend fellow detainee at Kapenguria described him as “father, liberator and a statesman.”

Upon his swearing in, Moi described Kenyatta as “my father, my teacher and my mentor.”

It was on August 31, 1978 that world leaders and delegations converged on Nairobi for the final farewell to one of Africa’s revered statesmen.

The Daily Nation in a front page story headlined FAREWELL penned: “Kenyans yesterday bid farewell to the Father and Founder of their Nation in the most impressive ceremony ever seen in Black Africa.”

The coffin draped in the Kenyan flag was carried on a two-tonne horse drone carriage from State House to Parliament Square before heads of state and representatives from 85 countries.

Police estimated 500,000 people filled roads and perched on trees and buildings to witness the burial.

The smooth transition brought in the Nyayo era.

Transition

However, the run-up to the transition was eventful.

Two years earlier, the powerful Attorney-General Charles Njonjo nipped in the bud a scheme by the Gema group to change the Constitution to bar the VP from automatically succeeding the President.

The change the Constitution group held several public rallies drumming support for their cause.

Then, in a one-sentence warning in Parliament, Mr Njonjo scuttled their moves by reminding them what the law says.

“It is treason, to imagine, compass and even contemplate the death of a President,” he told the House.

Already, Mr Stanley Oloititip, then an assistant Minister and Kajiado South MP had collected signatures opposing the move.

The scheme collapsed and Moi was officially declared sole Presidential candidate on October 28, 1978.