He slept and died peacefully, says kin as leaders mourn veteran politician

The late William ole Ntimama

Former Cabinet minister William Ronkorua ole Ntimama was robust and full of life before he peacefully died, the family said yesterday.

His daughter, Lydia Masikonte Ntimama, said her father was of sound health and had even spent Thursday evening taking stock of his livestock at his ancestral home of Melili in Narok County.

She said the former minister had traveled against the family’s wish to Melili on Thursday, two days ahead of a harambee he was to attend in support of women groups in Narok. He did not live to attend the fundraiser.

“He was very well and healthy. He had supper with some members of the family and at around 10pm, he went upstairs to his bedroom to sleep. Somehow, he complained of feeling suddenly tired. He slept and died. He just slept,” said Lydia at the family’s Lavington home in Nairobi.

The daughter was not with the father at the time of his death but had expected to join him yesterday morning before the harambee.

“We had talked at around 9.30pm and he was sounding jovial and upbeat. He was really looking forward to the fundraiser,” she said, recounting how she would, only minutes later, receive a call from his handlers that he had suddenly fallen ill. He died minutes later.

Lydia said they had urged him not to travel to Melili, saying they felt the place was cold for him to stay for two days but he insisted.

She told The Standard on Saturday that despite the fears they had on the bad weather, there was nothing indicating he could succumb. She said he had spent the day checking on his animals.

“It is like he had a premonition. He had spent the evening looking at his cows and even counted his sheep and goats,” she said.

Lydia said his father was still politically active even though he was lately not in the public limelight.

She disclosed that the “enigma of Maa politics” was preparing to host community elders and opinion leaders for a rally at Suswa Grounds for the fifth Suswa Declaration, where he was to lobby the Maa community to join the Jubilee Party.

“We recently went to State House and he was planning to lead the Maa community to Jubilee. I have lost a loving father, but the pain is felt more by the Maasai community, whose rights he fought throughout his life,” she said. Lydia, who has been a close figure around Ntimama in public lately described his father as a busy politician, but one who always had time for his family.

“He was the most loving father,” she said fighting back tears.

She added: “People knew that whenever mzee was angry, I was the right person to approach him and he would listen to me”.

Lydia said the Thursday’s solar eclipse witnessed in Kenya, and which to the Maasai community is seen as a bad omen, had psychologically prepared them for bad news that “someone big” was to die.

“Little did we know that it was to be mzee. When we saw the eclipse, we knew somebody big was to die. Indeed someone very big died that very day,” she recounted.

Yesterday, leaders described the fallen politician as a selfless leader who diligently served his country.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, Opposition leader Raila Odinga and former President Daniel Moi described Ntimama as a great leader who commanded respect among his people. President Kenyatta referred to the former Narok North MP as a visionary and patriotic leader, who spent most of his life serving the people.

“He was a great leader who devoted the prime years of his life to the service of our nation,” he said in his condolence message. Raila eulogised Ntimama as a wise counsel. He termed Ntimama’s death as a big blow and a personal loss to him. “I have, with a great sense of personal loss, learnt of the demise of Ntimama this morning. His passing truly marks an end to an era,” he said.

Moi described him as a leader of national and international repute. He said he learnt of the death with shock. “I have known Ntimama since 1955 when he was a young and energetic Maasai professional serving as a District Officer in Baringo,” Moi said. Moi said he had lost a great friend who always spoke his mind without fear.

Former Tanzania Prime Minister Edward Lowassa termed him his political guardian. He added: “Ntimama served his nation as well as our Maasai society with utmost dignity and diligence”.