Maathai: Prophet who was never feted at home
By People Daily, March 15, 2025Whenever I think of Nobel Laureate, the late Prof. Wangari Maathai, the great woman from Tetu in Nyeri, a lot comes to my mind. This is a great woman from the land of heroes and heroines, such as the legendary Mau Mau freedom fighters, Dedan Kimathi, Field Marshall Muthoni Kirima and JM Kariuki.
From a Journalist’s perspective, I get the feeling that just like Kimathi before her, we did not treat her well as a country, despite getting international recognition for her remarkable and outstanding environment conservation work. In Nyeri, where I also come from, we have a proverb which says “Mundu Mugo ndaiguagwo kwao” (prophet is not recognised at home). Even in her Tetu constituency, the amiable and ever-smiling Maathai only managed a one-term stint as MP, because locals felt she did not believe in the then regional muthamaki or kingpin.
One day, during the highly politically charged period, before the first multi-party General Election in 1992, after the re-introduction of multiparty politics in Kenya, a woman activist who was my close friend asked me to accompany her on a visit to the renowned environment conservationist modest house in Nairobi South C.
In turn, I invited a Mt. Kenya MP who was my close friend to accompany us to Maathai’s house. Prof. Maathai herself had by that time herself declared she would be vying for the presidency, during the then eagerly awaited upcoming General Elections on a little known party (I think the Liberal Party of Kenya). The late Wangari had at the same time formed a middle ground lobby to try and convince the then divided opposition to field a single candidate to beat the then ruling monolithic party, KANU.
On arrival at Maathai’s house, we found scores of people among them conservation enthusiasts and political activists. Prof. Maathai took time to emphasise to us the need to save our environment by planting more trees.
She noted that a disjointed opposition would not be able to dislodge Moi from power, something which came to pass because her advice went unheeded by those, then in the opposition. On our way back to the city centre, my MP friend could not help but pour scorn on Maathai saying she didn’t have anything to offer and in fact went on to imitate that she must have been out of her mind.
Mothers stripped naked
Earlier on, a then Cabinet Minister William Ntimama had actually referred to her as a mad woman for rubbing the Moi government the wrong way. This is after she put up a spirited campaign to stop the construction of a multi storey building at Uhuru Park by Moi regime.
The successful campaign by Prof. Maathai irked Moi so much that she publicly referred to her as a mad woman who kept dreadlocks. Maathai had at the same time annoyed the Moi regime for supporting the mothers whose sons Moi had detained without trial among them Koigi wa Wamwere’s mother.
As political heat rose, police teargassed the women at the freedom corner in Uhuru Park where they were on hunger strike, forcing some of them to strip naked causing an uproar locally and internationally. This led to the release of the ten political detainees. But as it were, both Koigi’s mother and Prof. Maathai did not strip naked as Moi government operatives maliciously tried to imply.
Fast forward … Shortly after my visit to Prof. Maathai’s house, I found myself at Chester House, where top opposition DP honchos led by party leader Mwai Kibaki were holding a press conference.
When asked by a journalist about the party’s stand on Maathai’s efforts to unite the opposition behind one candidate to face Moi, the party honchos rubbished her efforts, terming them meaningless and a waste of time, something that soon came to haunt them because sooner than later, the divided opposition narrowly lost to Moi.
I strongly believe that Kenya would have changed for the better, had the opposition won that historic election that year. But as it were, because of parochial and selfish interests, the more things change the more they remain the same, a tread that has continued to plague our country to-date. Maathai’s “undoing” was the fact that being a highly principled and fiercely independent person, she would not subscribe to partisan and tribal politics.
Memorable battle
Maathai’s other memorable battle was the one for her fight to save Nairobi’s landmark Karura forest from “State sanctioned” land grabbers. On that fateful day, Maathai together with members of her Green Belt Movement had gathered at Karura forest to plant trees, as a way of creating awareness against grabbing and destruction of the forest.
The tree planting exercise came to an abrupt end when hired goons armed with crude weapons suddenly appeared, and violently attacked the group with Prof. Maathai being the main target.
Despite putting up a brave fight, the goons overpowered Maathai ‘s group and inflicted serious injuries on her head, which caused her to be admitted in hospital. I was shocked to learn that some two close friends of mine, a political activist and a senior Nairobi Provincial Administration officer, both from Mt. Kenya region were behind the brutal attack on the Laureate.