List of Kenyans Accorded A State Funeral In Kenya

Kenya’s second President Daniel Moi died on 4th February 2020 at the Nairobi Hospital and is set to be accorded a state funeral that not many Kenyans have had the privilege to, we take a look at those granted a state funeral in Kenya.

Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta was accorded the first state funeral on 31st August 1978. The body of Jomo Kenyatta lay in the statehouse for 10 days as Kenyans embarked on a national mourning period that lasted 30 days.

Jomo Kenyatta, unlike Mzee Moi, died while still President on 22nd August 1978 and was later laid to rest in a mausoleum which is under 24-hour military guard to date.

Unlike Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the family of Moi wish to have him interred in his home in Kabarnet and not at the Heroes corner or the Parliament Square where Jomo’s remains lie.

The son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s current President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Kenya’s second President Daniel Moi shall be accorded a state funeral which means the funeral arrangements will be fully organized by the Government and not the family.

President Uhuru made the announcement through a proclamation where he publicly announced that Mzee Moi had passed away at 5:20 am and outlined the plans for his funeral which would be a state burial.

Kenya has only accorded four people a state burial since it acquired Independence in the year 1963, below are their names:

1. Jomo Kenyatta
2. Former Vice President Kijana Wamalwa
3. Former First Lady Lucy Kibaki
4. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai
5. Former President Daniel Moi

Kenyatta’s casket was wheeled from State House through the streets of Nairobi to the mausoleum by a gun carriage that had been used during the 1965 funeral of Sir Winston Churchill who was Britain’s World War II prime minister.

The state burial of Kijana Wamalwa, who was Kenya’s eighth vice president, took place on September 6, 2003, at his Milimani home in Kitale in a ceremony that was characterized by elaborate rites.

The government had offered to bury Kijana Wamalwa at Heroes Corner at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi.

Lucy, the wife of Kenya’s second President Mwai Kibaki, was buried on 7th May 2016, at her home in Othaya.

Maathai’s funeral service was held at the country’s symbol of independence, Uhuru Park, on October 7, 2011.

A President who dies in the office is entitled to military burial.

The honour is extended to retired heads of states, retired chiefs of Defence Forces and any other person as may be authorised by the Defence Council.