- Ngina Kenyatta
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Ngina Kenyatta First Lady of Kenya In office
December 12, 1964 – December 29, 20021Preceded by None Succeeded by Lucy Kibaki Personal details Born Ngina Muhoho
1933Nationality Kenyan Political party KANU Spouse(s) Jomo Kenyatta (m. 1951) Children Christine Wambui (born 1952)
Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 1961)
Anna Nyokabi (also known as Jeni)
Muhoho KenyattaResidence Nairobi, Kenya 1. Ngina retained her First Lady status even after the death of her husband in 1978. Incoming President Daniel arap Moi had separated from his wife in 1974. Ngina Kenyatta (born 1933), popularly known as "Mama Ngina", is the widow of Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978). She is described by Godfrey Gitahi Kariuki as a kind and welcoming lady.[1]
She was born Ngina Muhoho, daughter of Chief Muhoho wa Gathecha, Kiambu District, Central Province.[2] She married Jomo Kenyatta as his third wife in 1951, a union characterized as a "gift" to Kenyatta from his ethnic group, the Kikuyu.[3] This became her reference as the "mother of the nation",[3] becoming Mama Ngina Kenyatta, independent Kenya's glamorous First Lady when Kenyatta became President in 1963. She often accompanied him in public, and had some streets in Nairobi[4] and Mombasa, as well as a Children's Home,[5] named after her. In 1965, she became patron of Kenyan Guiding.[6]
In the 1970s, she and other high-level government officials were allegedly involved in an ivory-smuggling ring which transported tusks out of the country in the state private airliner.[7][8][9] A May 1975 edition of New Scientist cited her as one of Kenya's "ivory queens" but also asserted they could not be completely certain that these claims were true.[10] However, New Scientist claimed that there was now documentary proof that at least one member of Kenya's royal family had shipped over six tons of ivory to Red China.
Mama Ngina became a Roman Catholic,[11] and was known to attend Mass every Sunday in the Catholic mission with some of their children.[12] She also became one of the richest individuals in Kenya, owning plantations, ranches, and hotels.[13] She currently leads a quiet life in Kenya as a wealthy widow.
Family
She bore Kenyatta four children: Kristina Wamboi (born 1952), Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 1961), Anna Nyokabi (also known as Jeni or "Jane") and Muhoho Kenyatta (born 1964). Her only son, nicknamed Uhuru, the senior Kenyatta's political heir, unsuccessfully ran for president as President Moi's preferred successor in 2002 and is today the Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance. Muhoho Kenyatta runs the family's vast business but lives out of the public limelight. During Jomo Kenyatta's exile at Lodwar and Maralal, Ngina stayed with him, as did their daughters, Jane and Wamboi.[14] Mama Ngina is step-mother to Kenyatta's other three children, two by his first wife and one by the second.[15]
Monsignor George Muhoho, Roman Catholic chaplain at University of Nairobi is one of her brothers.[16]
References
- ^ Kariuki, G. G. (2001). The illusion of power: reflections on fifty years in Kenya politics. East African Publishers. pp. 33–. ISBN 9789966251060. http://books.google.com/books?id=jKyn-4fOqUQC&pg=PA33. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Kenya Gazette. 17 June 1947. pp. 306–. http://books.google.com/books?id=aKXDxI823VQC&pg=PA306. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ a b Kiluva-Ndunda, Mutindi Mumbua (2001). Women's agency and educational policy: the experiences of the women of Kilome, Kenya. SUNY Press. pp. 56–. ISBN 9780791447611. http://books.google.com/books?id=RCH_spGnGXwC&pg=PA56. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Murray, Martin J.; Myers, Garth Andrew (2007). Cities in contemporary Africa. Macmillan. pp. 85–. ISBN 9781403970350. http://books.google.com/books?id=gkhF3t7D4jsC&pg=PA85. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Kilbride, Philip; Suda, Collette; Njeru, Enos (September 2001). Street Children in Kenya: Voices of Children in Search of a Childhood. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 23–. ISBN 9780897898621. http://books.google.com/books?id=iMHBsBLFMJUC&pg=PA23. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Proctor, Tammy M. (25 September 2009). Scouting for girls: a century of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. ABC-CLIO. pp. 140–. ISBN 9780313381140. http://books.google.com/books?id=oohUqnIVo-sC&pg=PA140. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Animal kingdom. New York Zoological Society. 1980. http://books.google.com/books?id=oAEdAQAAMAAJ. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Wieland, Terry (25 March 2004). A view from a tall hill: Robert Ruark in Africa. Down East Enterprise Inc. p. 411. ISBN 9780892726509. http://books.google.com/books?id=CflNHBquJWAC&pg=PA411. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
- ^ Munger, Edwin S. (1983). Touched by Africa. Castle Press. ISBN 9780934912006. http://books.google.com/books?id=06MMAAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ New Scientist. Reed Business Information. 22 May 1975. p. 452. ISSN 02624079. http://books.google.com/books?id=zE74f2fU1iwC&pg=PA452. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Gibbon, Peter (1995). Markets, civil society and democracy in Kenya. Nordic Africa Institute. pp. 135–. ISBN 9789171063717. http://books.google.com/books?id=Xzr3teZOd3AC&pg=PA135. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ Tablino, Paolo (2006). Christianity among the nomads: the Catholic communities in Marsabit, Moyale and Samburu districts of Northern Kenya. volume II. Paulines Publications Africa. pp. 37–. ISBN 9789966081209. http://books.google.com/books?id=D5WO_giMZbIC&pg=PA37. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ Meredith, Martin (26 June 2006). The fate of Africa: from the hopes of freedom to the heart of despair : a history of fifty years of independence. PublicAffairs. pp. 267–. ISBN 9781586483982. http://books.google.com/books?id=GyOh8px3CFcC&pg=PA267. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Johnson Publishing Company (August 1961). Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. pp. 82–. ISSN 00129011. http://books.google.com/books?id=oDe4dSJt_6YC&pg=PA82. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Johnson Publishing Company (2 July 1964). Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. pp. 26–. ISSN 00215996. http://books.google.com/books?id=c8EDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ Gitari, David M.; Knighton, Ben (15 September 2009). Religion and politics in Kenya: essays in honor of a meddlesome priest. Macmillan. pp. 72–. ISBN 9780230614871. http://books.google.com/books?id=Tf7FQS8O3-kC&pg=PA72. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
External links
Categories:- 1933 births
- Living people
- Kenyan people
- First Ladies of Kenya
- Jomo Kenyatta
- Kenyan Roman Catholics
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