President Uhuru Kenyatta’s proclamation on Friday that his predecessor Mwai Kibaki will be buried in full civilian and military honours has set in motion an elaborate process, whose climax will be a grand ceremony that will be witnessed only for the third time in Kenya’s history.
President Kenyatta, as the current Commander-in-Chief (CiC) of the Defence Forces, announced the death of Mr Kibaki and put a seal on the statement.
Thereafter, he witnessed the lowering of the national flag at State House by the presidential guard from the General Service Unit (GSU), dressed in full ceremonial uniform to symbolise the official start of the period of national mourning.
As a former Head of State, President Kibaki is set to be accorded a state funeral. The death proclamation is the first of many honours that the country is set to bestow on the former President, who has been described as the gentleman of Kenya’s politics.
“In testimony of the highest of esteem in which all Kenyans hold the person and the memory of President Mwai Kibaki, the nation will observe a period of national mourning from today until sunset of the day of his interment,” said President Kenyatta.
“The President, the deputy president, the Chief Justice, cabinet secretaries, the Speakers of the National Assembly and Senate, Kenya’s diplomats abroad and whomsoever else is so authorised by law, shall not fly the national flag on their official motorcade from today until sunset on the day of his interment,” he ordered, adding that all flags be flown at half-mast.
Mr Kibaki’s interment will be Kenya’s seventh state funeral, but he is the third to have full military honours. The only other two people to be accorded such elaborate funerals are the founding President Jomo Kenyatta in 1978 and his successor Daniel Moi in February, 2020.
Former vice-president Kijana Wamalwa, Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, former Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru and former First Lady Lucy Kibaki were given state funerals minus the military element.
Like it happened in 1978 and 2020 when presidents Kenyatta and Moi died, the military took over operations at the Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi where Kibaki’s body is being preserved immediately President Kenyatta made the official proclamation.
The soldiers from the military police blocked one lane of Argwings Kodhek Road from Valley Road roundabout all the way to Ralph Bunche roundabout, allowing only vehicles from Hurlingham to use the remaining lane.
Inside the funeral home compound, four military police officers took position in two lines, leaving a path to the door way. The standing on guard, which will run until the day Kibaki’s body leaves the home, is a sign of respect to the former commander-in-chief’s service to the military for the 10 years he was in power.
As the military took position guarding the Lee Funeral Home, President Kenyatta chaired a meeting of high-ranking state and Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officials at State House to make preliminary plans for the funeral.
If the 2020 script when Moi died is followed, an inter-ministerial committee that will take charge of organising the funeral and inviting foreign dignitaries shall be formed. It is this committee that shall make the former president’s burial plans public.
Mzee Kenyatta’s body lay in state for 10 days, while national mourning lasted a month. During that time, it was guarded by 16 officers at any given time.
President Moi’s body lay in state at Parliament buildings to allow public viewing for three days before being taken to the Nyayo Stadium for a national requiem mass.
Kenyans were given a chance to sign condolence books for President Moi at Harambee House, the Supreme Court buildings, Parliament, all regional commissioner’s offices, all county commissioners’ offices and in embassies abroad.
And if the 2020 procedures are followed Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi may gazette the day of President Kibaki’s requiem mass as a public holiday in order to allow Kenyans to follow the events live.
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