It was short but colorful ceremony as King Charles III visited Uhuru Gardens yesterday, alongside President William Ruto and their spouses.

At Uhuru Gardens, the two leaders paid respect to the fallen military and civilians during colonial era, with King Charles being the first to lay a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Warrior.

Uhuru Gardens is symbolic in the Kenyan history since it was the venue the country declared independence in 1963 and is regarded as ‘Kenya’s birth place’. Even as hundreds of Kenyans lined up along Lang’ata road to have a glance of the royals, operations at the nearby Wilson Airport were momentarily suspended, with no aircraft allowed to take off or land.

Before they both could lay the wreath, there was a moment of silence in honour of those who lost their lives pre-independence.

The national anthem for both countries was also played and no official speeches were made all this while. Later, in Eastlands the King picked produce from an urban farm and presented it to a hospital’s chef as he learnt about a Kenyan project that has given new life to waste ground.

The King pulled out spinach, kale and curly kale leaves from the ground after he was given a guided tour of City Shamba, a city farm initiative, on the first full day of his state visit to Kenya. Renovation of the Garden, regarded as the custodian of Kenya’s historical and cultural artifacts, commenced a year ago. And yesterday, the royals walked to the Mugumo tree and had a close view of the spot that the flag was hoisted.

This is the first official visit by King Charles III and Queen Camilla to an African country and the first to a Commonwealth member State since their coronation in May.

Meanwhile, an indigenous organisation in Kenya, the Maa Museum and Centre for Indigenous Cultures has requested a public apology from King Charles and Queen Camilla regarding historical colonial injustices suffered by the Samburu people during the colonial rule.

Museum, led by cultural practitioners registered with the Ministry of Culture, is acting on behalf of the Samburu community, who have been seeking redress for a grievous chapter in their history for several decades. In a statement, the museum brought to the deportation of the Samburu Oloibon (King), Leaduma, in 1934, a deeply troubling incident that has left a lasting scar in the people of Samburu.

They said their king was deported without due process and mysteriously disappeared. The museum also claims that the British colonial administration seized Leaduma’s Oloibon tools, believed to possess supernatural significance.

The key demands they put forward include public apology for the unjust and unlawful deportation of Leaduma, disclosure of information regarding his final resting place, return of his confiscated tools and compensation for the economic hardships, mental anguish, and physical harm experienced by his descendants.