Family and friends bid Matiba goodbye on rainy, gloomy day

A requiem service was Wednesday held for Second Liberation hero Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba as a dreary Nairobi sky gave way to the city's normal sunny look.

As Nairobians braved cold weather and sluggish traffic to go about their business, at the Lee Funeral Home a small and intimate crowd had gathered in a tent.

Although many remember the Matiba as a brave and unbowed hero who sacrificed a lot for his country, to the crowd at the Lee Funeral Home, Matiba was much more.

From a husband to a father, grandfather and close confidante, this group knew Matiba in ways the rest of the world never did.

Hushed tones

While most of the men opted for black or dark grey suits, many of the female mourners chose elegant dark dresses or skirt suits, some accessorised with dark stockings.

At the brief, quiet and intimate service at Lee, members of Matiba’s family and his close friends sang slow, sad tunes, occasionally commiserating with each other in hushed tones. From afar, it was close to see that in the wake of his death, Matiba had left a strong, tight-knit family.

At 10.30am, Matiba’s funeral procession began to make its way from the funeral home in a style befitting the heroic status Kenyans accorded him.

Matiba’s body was enclosed in an expensive, mahogany casket, which the pallbearers put on top of a lavish golden-brown dais, inside a sleek Jaguar hearse.

On one side of the hearse, an emblem with the words “MATIBA” boldly and distinctively stood out in white.

The funeral procession was led by a police car and two police outriders. It was an ironic turn for nearly three decades earlier, the State had hauled Matiba into detention.

Aside from the Jaguar hearse, the procession also comprised more than five glossy Mercedes cars and several private vehicles, all carrying the family members and close friends.

As the procession slowly coursed through Argwings Kodhek Road onto Ralph Bunche Road, into Upperhill and then Processional Way and Kenyatta Avenue, police officers stopped traffic to make way for the late Matiba’s motorcade.

All along the route, the procession continued to attract attention, as people in vehicles and on the road stared to catch a glimpse of the motorcade. The largest crowd stood along the edge of Uhuru Park, keenly watching as the remains of the man they greatly admired were driven to All Saints Cathedral, located at the intersection of Kenyatta Avenue and Cathedral Road.

From Processional Way to the cathedral, police officers and National Youth Service men in long, dark-green raincoats provided security to the funeral-goers.

While the rest of the family appeared to have come to terms with Matiba’s death, his wife, Edith Matiba, was evidently grief-stricken. Matiba’s death had evidently taken a toll on her. The two met in 1951 while studying at Alliance Boys and Girls respectively, both proceeded to Makerere University and celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary this month.

Ms Matiba was supported by her daughter Susan Matiba as she held onto her walking stick. Occasionally, her other children would squeeze her hands, in a show of emotional support.

Tight security

By 11am, the hearse had arrived at the cathedral. By then, President Uhuru Kenyatta, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and his wife Rachel Ruto, former President Mwai Kibaki and other political figures like Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka and Raphael Tuju were already at the church. Given the presence of senior personnel, security was tight.

Delicate white and yellow flowers modestly decorated the stone church, which was filled up to its 1,500-people capacity.

Many of the members of the public who had come to see off Matiba braved the outside cold and intermittent drizzles of rain to see off Matiba.

In the church and outside, the mourners listened keenly, intrigued by aspects of Matiba’s life they did not know about.

For a man whose adult life was filled with so much pain, his funeral service was surprisingly cheerful, a true depiction of the happy life his family says he lived.

Speakers, from his former schoolmates at Alliance High School and Makerere University to his former colleagues at the Kenya Breweries Limited, family and life-long friends kept the congregation laughing, with interesting accounts of Matiba’s life, most of which the public had not heard before. Many of them referred to Matiba simply as ‘Ken’.

As the ceremony ended and Matiba’s body was carried out of the cathedral by pallbearers, including President Kenyatta and family friends such as Mr Andrew Smith, his portrait captured the essence of Matiba. Dressed in a white checked shirt, with a slightly receding hairline, clasped hands and a broad smile, the portrait perfectly captured Matiba, a man who remained joyous even in his last moments, when he was sickly and mostly relied on a wheelchair.