Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta is a no ordinary leader in Mount Kenya politics that stepping on her toes attracts serious political consequences.
Her name appears on the starting chapter of independent Kenya’s history where at the age of 29 she became the pioneer first lady, and at the age of 77 became mother to the fourth president make her person larger than life.
Add her economic might as well as reaching the iconic age of 90 years and she becomes a compound component that should be handled with care.
Mama Ngina’s interests —and by extension the Kenyatta family’s— are recorded to be in agriculture, real estate, banking, stocks, manufacturing and education.
Perharps these are the reasons why Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has publicly asked for apology for defiance and dirty campaigns targeting her during the last elections.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta. Mr Gachagua apologised to the former First Lady for what he called "political madness".
Photo credit: Nation Media Group
“That is the reason why addressing her is very hard for many politicians who feel she is a liability to their cause. She is not that ordinary woman whom you address the way you like…She culturally reserves the right to curse and demands respect,” says long serving administrator Joseph Kaguthi.
The fact that she was wife of one president and mother of another with fabled family wealth portfolio also puts her on a different category.
Mr Kaguthi who was an insider in the Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta governments says “Mr (Uhuru) Kenyatta would not have made it to State House were it not for Mama Ngina who went to Moi and beseeched him to adopt him as a potential leader who was not conscious of his potential.”
Mr Kaguthi says had Mama Ngina taken a backseat in politics at the time, Kenya’s history would have taken a different course.
“Even when politicians are attacking her, you can see unease and uncertainty. The backlash comes instantly after attacking her and several politicians have been arrested and charged in court even when she had not recorded a complaint in any police station,” says Kikuyu Council of Elders Chairman Wachira Kiago.
Former Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi describes Mama Ngina as the person “who singlehandedly defined the 2013 winning formation and has been a key political influence,” since independence.
Mr Ngugi says the plan did not work for Mama Ngina and her family in the 2022 election—when Azimio candidate Raila Odinga lost— but this has not diminished her political, social and economic role.
“Those who love and value their national history have no choice but respect her unconditionally,” he says.
Ealier photo of Uhuru Kenyatta with his mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta after he was named among six people summoned to the International Criminal Court at The Hague for their alleged role in the post-election violence of 2008.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Murang’a Senator Mr Joe Nyutu says “that aspect of reverence for Mama Ngina was not lost to all Mt Kenya politicians who even sharply differed on how to deal with her.”
Mr Nyutu says during the 2022 campaigns he struggled to respond to her after she came out in support of Mr Odinga against President Ruto. He explains that it was easy to take on the former President but Mama Ngina presented a trickier prospect.
This could explain why Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has caused an implosion of uncertainty by apologising to her over “our vagaries that led us to speak down to you, demean, defame and slander in total disregard to our culture that demanded total respects for you as our collective community mother.”
The negativities that the Kenya Kwanza Alliance brigade had meted on Mama Ngina before and after the elections had seen Mr Kenyatta declare that “I have the duty to defend the name and status of my family, especially against onslaughts against the person of my mother”.
The government had withdrawn her security as well as taken back monthly benefits that she had been receiving from the exchequer since independence.
Noted is that even Mr Gachagua’s harshest critics have been at a loss to make counter attacks to demean his apology. Mr Kiago who insists that Mr Kenyatta is still the community kingpin, says “for this it is different and we first accept the apology on behalf of Mama Ngina.”
It is only Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua who wrote on her social media account that “atonement for anyone who insult mothers and elders must include slaughtering of a goat for the apology to take effect.”
Mr Kiago says “we cannot fight anything positive directed to her and we will now engage Mr Gachagua to follow the laid down cultural atonement rituals as per the dictates of our culture”.
Mr Kiago added: “We are not taking it for granted and we are doing all possible to ensure that Mama Ngina in her advanced age makes peace with Mt Kenya and the country at large since one negative word from her can plunge the whole country into a tragedy”.
