Kaya elder who installed Raila as Duruma elder dies

Kaya Mtswakara chairperson Shaban Ndegwa. [File, Standard]

A Mijikenda Kaya elder who installed the late Raila Odinga as a Duruma elder is dead.

Mr Shaban Ndegwa, custodian of Kaya Mtswakara in Kwale, died at the Port Reitz Sub-County Hospital in Mombasa County following a short illness, according to his family.

Mzee Ndegwa, 61, was buried in a Duruma traditional funeral on Sunday evening, surrounded by kaya elders from Kwale and Kilifi counties.

His body was wrapped in a piece of black cloth without a coffin and put in a simple grave at his Fulugani village home in the Mazeras area on Sunday evening.

Only Duruma traditional dances were performed at the funeral, which was attended by hundreds of mourners.

Kinango MP Gonzi Rai, Bandari Maritime Academy (BMA) chairman Engineer Lung’anzi Chai, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) chairman Mr Benjamin Tayari, Kwale County Assembly Speaker Seth Mwatela and Kasemeni MCA Victor Safari were among the mourners.

In 2021, Ndegwa sat Raila on a traditional stool while holding a stick as a symbol of authority following his popularity in the Coast region.

He named Raila Mgandi, a popular tree that lives for ages in the area, amid cheers from kaya elders and residents. Ndegwa had said this was in recognition of Raila’s leadership and love for the Coast people.

Raila then revealed that he had been named Gakweli (man of truth) by Digo elders in Kwale and was happy with the local names.

Various mourners eulogised Ndegwa as a man who played a leading role in conserving the vast Kaya Mtswakara together with the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) and the World Wildlife Fund, among other agencies.

Rabai kaya elder Said Chitanda and his Kaya Fungo counterpart Karisa Mwarandu said it will be difficult to replace Mr Ndegwa, who participated actively in all cultural activities across the Coast region.

“He has been actively involved in cultural programmes in the Coast region, and I worked closely with him at the Malindi District Cultural Association (Madca) on a cultural programme. We need his replacement to continue with the work,” said Mwarandu, who loudly called his name out as a way of bidding him farewell.

Ndegwa was credited for his passion to conserve nature and culture as well as being a seasoned football coach in the area.

During the ongoing construction of the more than Sh20 billion Mwache Dam, which led to his relocation, Ndegwa was a leading light in protecting Kaya Mtswakara and other small traditional shrines from destruction, and held cleansing ceremonies to appease the spirits of ancestors in line with Duruma culture.

He ensured that graves were compensated for and relocated together with the families that paved the way for the dam.

“We usually put the remains of the dead ancestors in black cloth and safely transfer them to their new graves while performing burial rites as if they are new deaths, to ensure they rest in peace. If the rites are violated, the spirits of the dead come back to haunt their relatives,” he once told The Standard.

His last public appearance was on September 9 this year when he played a leading role in the celebrations to mark Chendachenda in the area, signifying the unity of the nine Mijikenda tribes. Similar celebrations were also marked in Kilifi County.

Mourners said Ndegwa’s name was in the World Bank system because of his defence of cultural resources when it sent its team to launch the construction of the Mwache Dam.

Mwache, which is set to provide water to Kwale and Mombasa counties, was funded by the government and the World Bank.