This archive report was first published on 25 October 2019.
On February 18, 1957, Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi was hanged, effectively ending the Mau Mau war of independence. Sixty-four years later, his burial site has been identified at Kamiti Maximum Prison in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to the Dedan Kimathi Foundation, the discovery was made after 'numerous concerted efforts, spearheaded by the Government of the Republic of Kenya'. The foundation's CEO, Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi, expressed her gratitude, stating, 'This development is not just great news for the Dedan Kimathi family but also the larger freedom struggle heroes fraternity.'
The foundation plans to seek orders to exhume Kimathi's remains for a decent burial. 'We now remain fingers crossed as we wait for Chief Justice David Maraga to allow for the excavation and exhumation of the Kimathi's remains for a decent burial,' Wanjugu said.
Kimathi, a former soldier and primary school teacher, led the Mau Mau rebellion against the British Colonial Government in Kenya in the 1950s. He was captured by colonial officer Ian Henderson and sentenced to death for unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
According to a 2014 interview with Daily Nation, a prison warder who served at the prison between 1952 and 1957, Samuel Toroitich, revealed that the colonialists believed Kimathi could come back to life. 'Colonialists could not believe that the former freedom fighter was actually dead and we were ordered to man the graveside for three months as they feared that he might come back to life,' Toroitich said.
