Margaret Njambi, the witchdoctor Jomo Kenyatta loved

President Jomo Kenyatta had plans of marrying Njambi after she was kicked out by her hubby. However, Njambi’s father declined Jomo’s advances.

Margaret Njambi, a revered and feared mganga and traditional healer was a big name in her Muthiga village in Kiambu County. Although she died in 2017 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. She accepted the powers in 1953 after which the blindness disappeared when she tended to her first client, a woman from Eldoret who wanted to be unchained from a curse. Her father died two years later. It is claimed that until her death, she had the sharpest eyesight.

Peter Mburu, 80, her brother told The Nairobian he never liked his sister’s occupation and even rejected her suggestions to take over the trade from her. Njambi had 15 grandchildren, about 20 great grandchildren and over 50 great, great grandchildren, but only two children were named after her and one has since died. Njambi’s family refuted claims that they feared naming their newly born girls after her. Interestingly, Njambi enjoyed Tusker and Guinness to kill boredom even when she turned 120 years old.