Fighter: Kenyan independence struggler dies aged 91 years

A celebrated female freedom fighter in Kenya’s bloody independence struggle against British colonial rule died on Tuesday 5 September 2023, with the country’s president leading the tributes.

Muthoni Kirima, one of the few women to actively fight in the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s, was declared dead on arrival at a Nairobi hospital after developing health complications, her family said.

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KENYAN PRESIDENT RUTO SENT CONDOLENCES

The media reports variously put her age at 91 or 92. “Deeply saddened by the passing of Field Marshal Muthoni Kirima, a powerful figure of broad influence who fought for our freedom,” Kenyan President William Ruto said.

“We honour her heroic contribution to the freedom and development of our country,” said Ruto, who was pictured hugging Kirima at a meeting in the foothills of Mount Kenya last month.

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THE FIGHTER WAS ALONGSIDE DEDAN KIMATHI

Kirima fought alongside resistance leader Dedan Kimathi and was reportedly the only woman to have attained the Mau Mau rank of field marshal. She had suffered a bullet wound in her chest during the uprising in 1952, media reports said.

In May, Kimathi’s widow Mukami Kimathi, who was also in her 90s, died in a Nairobi hospital, lauded by Ruto as a “legendary fighter”.

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Her husband was executed half a century ago by the colonial authorities, prompting her later to appeal to the Kenyan government to exhume his body so he could be given a state funeral.

MAU MAU SUFFERED HORRIFIC ABUSE

But successive governments tried and failed to locate his remains. The Mau Mau suffered horrific abuses under the colonial regime for taking part in one of the British Empire’s bloodiest insurgencies.

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In 2015, thousands of Mau Mau veterans attended the unveiling in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, of a British-funded memorial to the thousands killed, tortured and jailed in the rebellion, in a rare example of former rulers commemorating a colonial uprising.