Kenyans have been paying their respects to Mukami Kimathi, the widow of Dedan Kimathi, a Mau Mau freedom struggle icon.
Mrs. Kimathi’s family told local media that she had breathing problems on Thursday night and was taken to a hospital in Nairobi, where she died shortly afterward.
Her husband, the Mau Mau uprising’s leader, was captured, tried, and executed by the British colonial government in 1956. He was laid to rest at the Kamiti prison on the city’s outskirts.
Kenya’s President William Ruto praised Mrs. Kimathi on Friday for “courageously withstanding the brutality of colonial oppression, proudly wearing the scars of battle, and bearing the terrible losses of war with admirable fortitude.”
Rigathi Gachagua, Deputy President, described her as “the mother of our liberation struggle and a beacon of hope surrounding the freedom fighters and their descendants.”
Throughout her life, she advocated for the welfare of freedom fighters, who did not reap the benefits of their sacrifice for Kenya’s independence.
In January, she was denied the right to leave a hospital where she had been admitted due to her family’s inability to pay the bills, which was interpreted as an indication of the poverty that freedom fighters had to endure. She was later released after the president paid the $7,300 (£5,800) bill.
She had also advocated for the exhumation of her husband’s remains from prison and reburial at his home.
Despite Mrs. Kimathi’s request to be shown the grave before her death, the years-long search for his exact location has been fruitless.
