Kwale residents recall last moments with Mzee Jomo Kenyatta

Nothing says history better than traditional music and through this, residents of Kwale’s Msambweni tell their own, spanning back to the 70’s, a time when they performed such traditional songs and dances to Kenya’s first president the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.

He remains their shujaa, 37 years since his death on the 22^nd of August 1978.

Kassim Mwanzandi, who was the then foreign affairs assistant minister, explains why: “Mzee loved Msambweni because of the music.”

Mwanasiti Bakari and Fatuma Ali were part of the primary school choir that always sang for Mzee when he visited, and they remember vividly his final visit there.

“In his last days, he visited here three days consecutively and each day we would sing for him then he would raise his frisk and say harambee,” said Mwanasiti.

According to the residents, his public address there would be the last before his death.

“The last thing I heard him say was Harambee,” said Fatuma.

The founding president had a cordial relationship with people of Msambweni in Kwale County that saw him visit the area twice every year.

According to residents in the area, the founding father used to hold public barazas at the then Bomani Primary School.

All residents would close their businesses to meet the president.

Residents who recall Kenyatta’s love for the region are concerned that a memorial site is yet to be established at the site.

Decades later, this is the only this school that has been put up in his honor, the Jomo Kenyatta Memorial School.

And so, as Msambweni residents join the country in celebrating Mashujaa Day, formerly known as Kenyatta Day, their hope is that their own shujaa, Kenya’s founding father, is accorded the honor he deserves.