Indonesian identified as world's oldest person

Mbah Gotho of Indonesia has an identity card that says he was born in 1870, which (if verified) would make him 145 years old and the world's oldest person. Mbah Gotho has revealed he still enjoys smoking cigarettes. (PHOTO: COURTESY/ EPA)

The world's oldest man has been identified as Indonesian Mbah Gotho, 145, with documentation showing he was born in 1870.

Mr Gotho said he began preparing for his death in 1992, even having a gravestone made, but 24 years later he is still alive.

He has now outlived all 10 of his siblings, his four wives and his children.

Though his age is impressive, Gotho told a regional news network that "what I want is to die."

For the past three months, he has been bathed and spoon-fed, and is becoming increasingly frail.

Gotho has official documentation which shows his age, and the Indonesian records office says it has confirmed his birth date as December 31, 1870.

If this is correct, this would earn him the title of the oldest person ever, a status that was held by French golden ager Jeanne Calment who was 122 when she died, 23 years younger than Gotho.

If the documents cannot be independently verified, however, Gotho will not go down in the record books.

There are a number of people who claim to have broken Jeanne Calment's record, such as Nigerian James Olofintuyi, who claims to be 171, and Dhaqabo Ebba from Ethiopia, who claims to be 163. But without verifiable documents, they cannot be given the title.

Gotho, the antediluvian from Central Java, says he spends his time listening to the radio, as his eyesight was no longer good enough to watch television.

When asked the secret to a long life, he said: "The recipe is just patience."

And 126-year-old Selina Mmbone Mbasu could be the oldest person alive in Kenya.

In an era where many people fail to celebrate their half-century birthday, Mama Mmbone revels in life's abundance at Chandolo village, Lusiola sub-location, in South Maragoli ward, Vihiga County.

Although now partially incapacitated both in speech, vision and physically, Mmbone can still recognise voices of his children and strangers who talk to her.

When The Standard visited her at home in July, she was relaxing on her bed, with her eldest daughter Heran Mukangati, 83,  and last born son Herman Omenda beside her.

She still affords to crack a joke.

"Your children want to see you... wake up," Omenda quips.

"Who are they?" a frail voice asks. "What do they want to see me for?"

She is assisted to wake up, sits on bed and asks: "I am now awake. Where are they?"

Omenda informs her that we have visited to ascertain her longevity and inform the world. She becomes more attentive, while shaking her head intermittently.

"Karibuni (welcome)," she says.

Documents shown to us and that have been authenticated by The Friends Church indicate Mmbone was born in 1890 at Liamagale village, in Vihiga County, being the first-born in their family of many children.

The documents do not indicate the exact day, or month when Mmbone was born.

Having been baptised in 1929 by a missionary identified as Mr Rees, Mmbone clung onto the church as her only identity and hope in life.

She further attained basic elementary skills at Kima Mission, where women were trained in embroidery.

Omenda says in her heyday, Mmbone was a renowned potter. And when age caught up with her and she was unable to go to markets far away to sell her pots, she turned to be a midwife.

In the church, she was among the chosen few who would consecrate the altar, take care of the church's cleanliness and was a devoted Christian.

For her devotion towards the church, she was awarded a lamp by Vihiga Yearly Meeting of Friends, the highest gift given to women who serve diligently in the church in 2006.

"This certificate is in recognition to the long service to the church and devotion that is exemplary to the current generation and even other generations to follow," the certificate reads.

For a woman who has had the pleasure to see grandchildren up to her fourth and even fifth generation, she says she has finished her work in the world.

Omenda says Mmbone has always wished to die and sometimes thinks God has completely forgotten all about her.

Mama Mmbone has seen it all in life; enjoyed its best moments, seen the world tear itself apart during both the First and Second World wars, seen Kenya colonised and gain independence, four regime changes and more.

She has fought worst diseases, survived some of the biting famines experienced in the country; and yet she can still see some goodness in the world. 

According to the Guinness World Records website, the greatest fully authenticated age to which any human has ever lived is 122 years 164 days by Jeanne Louise Calment (France). Born on February 21, 1875, Jeanne died at a nursing home in Arles, southern France on August 4, 1997.