Dedan Kimathi’s grave has not been found — Ministry of Interior

The Ministry of Interior Coordination of National Government has refuted claims that the grave of freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi has been found.

On Friday, a foundation in Kimathi’s name claimed that the grave was found at Kamiti Maximum Prison but the Ministry, under the leadership of CS Fred Matiang’i rubbished the claims.

“Our attention has been drawn to news on some platforms that the grave of our freedom fighter Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi has been found at Kamiti Prison.

“Please note these claims are FALSE; such info will be relayed to the public only via our official communication channels,” read the statement.

A foundation in his name made the claims saying the discovery followed ‘numerous concerted efforts, spearheaded by the Government of the Republic of Kenya’.

“This development is not just great news for the Dedan Kimathi family but also the larger freedom struggle heroes fraternity,” the foundation’s CEO Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi said.

Wanjugu added that they will now seek orders to exhume the remains.

 “We now remain fingers crossed as we wait for Chief Justice David Maraga to allow for the excavation and exhumation of the Kimathi’s remains for a decent burial,” she said.

Prison officials are yet to comment on the discovery.

Kimathi, a former soldier and primary school teacher, a diary and timber clerk, a pig farmhand with a missing left index finger, led the Mau Mau rebellion against the British Colonial Government in Kenya in the 1950s.

After his capture by a colonial officer, Ian Henderson on the edges of Mt Kenya Forest, he was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition which was against regulation 8A (1) of the Emergency Regulation in 1952.

He was sentenced to death for the first count and seven years imprisonment with hard labor for the second count.

According to the court papers of the lawyer who represented Kimathi, Ralph Millner -- now deceased—the United Kingdom Government had declined to reveal where they had buried the liberation hero.

According to a prison warder who served at the prison between 1952 and 1957, the colonialists thought Kimathi could come back to life.