The ‘mganga’ Jomo Kenyatta loved

President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta once harboured ideas of marrying Njambi(inset)

Margaret Njambi, a revered and feared mganga and traditional healer was a big name in her Muthiga village in Kiambu County. Although she died recently aged over 120 years, Kenyans learnt about her in 2011 when Citizen Television tried filming her secretly. But the hidden cameras jammed. Four times! Njambi died on June 6 at Jamaa Mission Hospital in Buruburu, Nairobi.

Of her 123 years, 60 were spent as a traditional healer. She was said to have gone blind in the 1950s after declining to inherit the wizardly powers from her father, Karige wa Muui.