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State rolls out packed five-day honours for Kibaki

Uhuru to lead country in paying last respects to the late President at Parliament Buildings

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by LUKE AWICH

News25 April 2022 - 00:35
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In Summary


  • Body will lie in state for three days at Parliament Buildings.
  • Kibaki will be accorded a 19-gun salute.
The late President Mwai Kibaki in a past event

President Uhuru Kenyatta will on Monday lead Kenyans in viewing the body of President Mwai Kibaki at Parliament Buildings.

Top government officials and senior military commanders will also join the President in paying last respects to the late former President.

Thousands of Kenyans are expected to queue to view the third President's body until Wednesday.

The body will lie in state at Parliament for three days, according to the State Funeral Committee chaired by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i.

Lying in state is the tradition in which the body of a dead official is placed in a state building, either outside or inside a coffin.

Kibaki, who died at 90 after a long illness, will be laid to rest on Saturday at his Othaya home in an elaborate ceremony with both military and civilian honours.

Last week, President Kenyatta directed that the third Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces be accorded a state funeral with full military honours and protocols.

 “The former head of state will be given a state funeral with the highest honours because of the distinct service he rendered to our country,” Matiang'i said on Saturday.

The programme as unveiled by government accords heroic send-off to Kibaki who has served the country as a Cabinet minister, Vice President, Official Opposition Leader and the third President.

The state funeral makes late Kibaki the third Kenyan to be given such high respect after founding President Jomo Kenyatta and his successor Daniel Moi.

Like Moi, Kibaki will also be accorded 19-gun salute following the strict military tradition for late Commanders-in- Chief.

Kenyatta having died while in office had a 21-gun salute. His body lay in state for 10 days and national mourning lasted a month.

The only officials entitled to a state funeral and lie in state are the president, a former president, a president-elect or any other person designated by the president.

Uhuru will on Monday lead the nation in paying last respects to the former head of state at Parliament where Kenyans will have the opportunity to pay homage to the their former President.

At around 8.05am on Monday, the cortege draped in the national flag will leave Lee Funeral Home in the company of Kibaki’s family.

The funeral procession will snake its way through Valley Road, Kenyatta Avenue through to Parliament Way where a military guard of honour will be mounted before the cortege is ushered to Parliament.

The Head of State is expected to arrive at Parliament buildings at around 10am for the state function.

After three days of lying in state, the gun carriage and funeral procession will on Friday make its way to the Nyayo Stadium where a national interdenominational memorial service will be conducted.

To allow more Kenyans participate in celebrating Kibaki, Interior CS Fred Matiangi has already declared Friday a public holiday.

Kibaki will be laid to rest on Saturday, April 30, 2022, at his Othaya home.

Several heads of state and government are expected to attend the funeral service and burial for former president at Nyayo stadium and Othaya respectively.

Apart from the late presidents, Kenya has only accorded four individuals a state burial since Independence in 1963.

They are former Vice President Kijana Wamalwa, Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, former Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru and former First Lady Lucy Kibaki.

The funeral programme is likely to provide twin platforms for the country's top political leaders to share podiums.

President Kenyatta and his deputy President William Ruto are expected to lead the country for a state funeral planned for the late Kibaki on Friday at Nyayo Stadium.

The two might also meet face to face a day later during Kibaki's burial ceremony at his Othaya rural home in Nyeri county.

Analysts predict that the Othaya burial programme could be witness high-octane politics between Uhuru's Azimio la Umoja One Kenya wing and Deputy President William Ruto's camp.

The majority of politicians from Central region are allied to Ruto, including Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga who will fly the UDA flag and Woman Representative Rahab Mukami.

Area MP Mugambi Gichuki is defending his seat on the Jubilee party ticket. Kibaki's nephew Joseph Kiragu is challenging Gichuki as an independent candidate.

Ruto has not seen eye to eye with Uhuru since the December 12 Jamhuri Day celebrations held at the Uhuru Gardens last year at the height of their acrimonious split.

Kibaki's funeral being a state one, it is likely that Ruto will step forward to play his constitutional mandate as the country's second in command to pay his tributes and invite the President.

Edited by Henry Makori

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