By Reuben Abati
Lucy Kibaki and her husband, ex-Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki
Lucy Muthoni Kibaki was buried yesterday, 9.12 am, Nigerian time, in Othaya, Njeri County, Kenya in the presence of about 300 guests and family members, after a requiem mass attended by over 3, 000 dignitaries and 20, 000 mourners. She was the wife of President Mwai Kibaki, the third President of Kenya, in office from 2002 -2013. She is definitely, one of Kenya’s most controversial public figures in the last 50 years.
There has been no other First Lady like her in the history of Kenya and perhaps in the whole of Africa. It was indeed not suprising that her casket on its journey back to Nairobi, from Bupa Cromwell Hospital, South West London, where she died on April 26, was draped in national colours and that she received the equivalent of a state burial. Mama Lucy was that type of First Lady who had she been denied such state recognition and if the dead could rise and return to sleep, would have stormed out of the casket and accuse the government of Kenya of disrespecting her. She was one hell of a woman. It seems Kenyans are afraid of her, in life, even in death. Ironically, there has been more focus on her positive attributes rather than her frightening negatives, perhaps because it is incorrect to speak ill of the dead.
Since the announcement of her death, Lucy Kibaki has been praised for her love of family values and the sanctity of the family. Some have called her the “embodiment of motherhood.” Indeed, she was a staunch defender of the interests of the poor and the disadvantaged in society, especially women, children and the girl-child. She …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
