Last female Mau Mau war veteran to be buried on Friday next week

Nyeri,

 Tuesday, September 12, 2023

 KNA by Samuel Maina

Muthoni Kirima, the only female freedom fighter to rise to the rank of a Field Marshal,will now be buried on Friday next week , Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga has announced.

Addressing the press outside his office while in the company of members of Kirima’s family, Kahiga said the decision has been reached after consultations with the organising committee.

According to the county boss the family of the deceased had implored upon both the national and county administration to schedule the ceremony to Tuesday to allow both President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua to attend.

Mr Gathagua is currently out of the country on an official tour to Colombia and Cuba while Dr Ruto is set to fly out to New York tomorrow to attend the 78th United Nations General Assembly.

“One of the reasons we have taken that long is that the family and also the Deputy President expressed the desire and the will to attend that funeral and you are all very aware that the deputy President (Rigathi Gachagua) has left for Colombia and he will be away until next week on Monday. We also have the President (William Ruto) who is leaving tomorrow for a United Nations meeting in New York and therefore the family felt that they wanted their presence and that’s why we decided the funeral be held on September 22,” he told the press.

Kirima who died on September 5 at the age of 92 years was the only remaining female Mau Mau heroine to have attained the rank of a Field Marshall.

The deceased's final public appearance was on August 7, 2023 during the commissioning of then Asian Quarters bus park (later renamed Field Marshal Muthoni Kirima in her honour) by Dr Ruto.

A few days later she, together with Muthoni Mathenge, widow to the late Freedom fighter General Mathenge met the President at the Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri.

While eulogising her outstanding rise in the country’s freedom struggle, Kahiga termed Kirima as a gallant soldier who literally sacrificed her future and womanhood for the sake of her country.

He described her as a brilliant and skillful strategist during the struggle against colonial domination in Kenya and said her name will remain etched in the annals of the country’s liberation struggle.

“Muthoni Kirima was a gallant fighter who sacrificed everything she could ever sacrifice, one of them being her own family as she fought for the independence of this country. She worked closely with Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi as an assistant and as we stand here today, we first want to honour this great heroine. A few days before she passed on, we had the rare occasion where we were having one of our flagship projects in honour of this great fighter, ’he added.

Born in the 1930, Muthoni is said to have followed her husband General Mutungi Gichuhi into the Nyandarua forest to join Mau Mau freedom fighters as a spy.

It is said that Dedan Kimathi named her the weaver bird due to her brilliant strategies to beat the British soldiers during the struggle.

While mourning her demise, Gachagua wrote on his official twitter handle: “I have woken up to the sad news of the passing on of Field Marshal Muthoni Kirima, the gallant freedom fighter who fought side by side with Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi Wachiuri in the Mount Kenya and Aberdare Forest to drive colonialist from our land. We recall with pride and sheer admiration, her exploits in leading the land and freedom army after the capture of freedom hero Dedan Kimathi whom she served as his personal assistant, after he was betrayed by collaborators.”

“We remain indebted to these heroes and heroines for the sacrifice to liberate our land. May God rest her in eternal peace,” said the DP.

There will be a requiem mass at the Kinunga Stadium before her body is taken for burial at her ancestral home in Ihua village in Tetu sub county in line with her last wishes.

Courtesy; KNA