Mama Ngina breaks silence on Mzee

Jennifer Muiruri | NATION Mama Ngina lays a wreath at the mausoleum of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at Parliament Buildings on Sunday to mark the 32nd anniversary of his death. She spoke on Monday for the first time about Mzee’s last moments.

By JOHN NGIRACHU jngirachu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, August 23 2010 at 22:00
In Summary

Mzee complained of stomach ache and asked for water moments before he died, she says

In the early hours of August 22, 1978, a stunned Mama Ngina Kenyatta grabbed the doctor who had been examining her husband and asked him to repeat what he had just said.

The man from the Coast General Hospital had just uttered a statement that would be whispered throughout the country hours later, that Kenya’s first president had breathed his last.

“I am sorry, Mrs Kenyatta, the President is no more, he has left us,” was all the good doctor had said.

And stunned, she grabbed his shirt and asked, “What have you said?”

“Sorry, that’s how it is,” he replied. That, Mama Ngina revealed in an interview with Kameme FM, was what transpired on the night Mzee died.

It is perhaps the first time she has spoken publicly on her last moments with the first president.

Mzee, as she still refers to him, had woken up at about 2 am complaining of stomach ache.

“He asked for water and I asked whether he would have some orange juice but he said he wanted water. He then went to the toilet but the pain did not subside,” she said.

She called the nurse who said it would be better if Dr Njoroge Mungai and Dr Eric Mwangola attended to him. They were summoned from their hotels and a doctor called from the Coast General Hospital.

The latter arrived first. By the time Dr Mungai and Dr Mwangola showed up, Mzee was long dead, said Mrs Kenyatta. They were later joined by Mr Eliud Mahihu, who was the Coast Provincial Commissioner.

With her at State House, Mombasa, were her children Uhuru, Muhoho and Nyokabi Kenyatta, the nurse and a bodyguard.

She also spoke about how she ran the family after Mzee’s death.

“Mzee had no money, but I sold some land to help educate (the children). I realised education was the only thing I could give them because with education and hard work, even without wealth, one can succeed,” she said.

The children, now all grown up, studied in Kenya and the United States.

It is perhaps improbable that the head of a family that is generally perceived to be well-off can make such a claim. Could she have meant Mzee had more assets than cash?