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Residents of Mombasa are mourning the death of tourism guru Mr Zakayo Kagombe Nderu.
Nderu owned and operated Mombasa’s boutique hotel, Lotus, where US President Barack Obama spent four nights as a student during his visit 29 years ago.
Nderu died at the Nairobi Hospital and has already been buried at his ancestral home in Kipipiri, Nyandarua County.
His last interview with The Standard came before President Obama’s visit to Kenya in July 2015, when he narrated his encounter with the US president in 1987.
Then a law student, Obama was visiting the coastal city as part of his odyssey to trace his Kenyan roots. Nderu had shown The Standard Lotus Hotel’s ensuite room 109 which measures nine square metres with a closet, simple bed, writing table and telephone as the one Obama used during his stay at the hotel.
The Kenya Coast Tourist Association (KCTA), a tourism lobby group then known as Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association (MCTA), which Nderu helped to form, sent its condolences to his widow, Mrs Margaret Njoki Nderu and their children.
“We received news of the death of Mzee Nderu with utter shock and wish to take this earliest opportunity to condole with the family. Nderu led a sociable life and was full of vigour. He was a charming person who was ready to help,” KCTA Executive Officer, Millicent Odhiambo stated.
The Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (Kahc) coast branch Chief Executive Officer, Sam Ikwaye described Nderu’s death as a loss to the Kenyan coast tourism fraternity.
“It is not only his family who have lost him. We, as stakeholders in the tourism industry, have lost a dedicated servant and a wise gentleman. May God rest his soul in peace,’’ Ikwaye said.
Also condoling with the family was the Managing Director of Pollman’s Tours & Safaris, Mr Khalid Shapi.
Nderu recalled during the interview with The Standard that Obama checked into the hotel alone.
“Since he booked for bed and breakfast and had his morning meals at the hotel’s restaurant. Most times, he ate his lunch and supper outside the hotel,’’ Nderu said then.
Nderu recalls that during Obama’s stay at the hotel, he became friends with one of the hotel managers, a Mr Ouma.
“Ouma was a native from Luo Nyanza and Obama was extremely interested in stories from that part of Kenya,’’ Nderu remembered.
Apart from tourism, Nderu was the founder and national chairman of the Environment Trust of Kenya (ETK), an environmental lobby group that championed cleaner surrounding in and around Mombasa.
He also served as a committee member of the Mombasa Technical Training Institute, now Kenya Coast Polytechnic.
