Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has touched off a new controversy on Dedan Kimathi’s body which he wants exhumed for a joint burial with his widow who died on Thursday night.
Mukami, the widow of the revered Mau Mau freedom fighter, died at the Nairobi Hospital aged 101.
While mourning Mukami, the Trade CS said the British government should assist Kenya in identifying exact place in Kamiti Prison where Kimathi’s remains were buried after execution.
“I believe firmly that it is still possible probably with the support of the British government to identify the exact place he was buried so that as we mourn Mukami, we should have Kimathi’s remains exhumed for a joint burial,” he said at the Lee Funeral Home where he was accompanied by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Kuria said there was need for all unanswered questions on the struggle for Mau Mau to be resolved.
Until her death, Mukami has been advocating for the exhumation of the remains of her husband from Kamiti Maximum Prison to be buried at his home.
Official government records show that Kimathi was captured by the colonial administration in 1956 at Kahigaini in the Aberdare ranges and executed in 1957 in Kamiti Prison.
“I do not want to die before being shown the exact place where my husband was buried. I want to see the remains of my Kimathi before I go. I do not have long to live and this matter has been a thorn in my flesh,” Mukami said in a recent media interview.
The search for the remains of the patriarch started as far back as the 1980s when the family petitioned the State to help them locate it in what attracted global attention. and several stated including Argentina offered to help.
“I want to be shown my husband’s grave. I want to know where he was buried. No one knows where my Kimathi was buried except the British government and I want President William Ruto and King Charles to intervene in this matter,” Mukami told the media late last year.
Kimathi, born Kimathi wa Waciuri, was a senior military and spiritual leader of the Mau Mau uprising who led the armed struggle against the British colonial regime in Kenya in the 1950’s until 1956 when he was captured and executed a year later. He is believed to have been born in 1920.
