Kenya to celebrate Madaraka where  it all began

Around 30,000 people will be allowed into Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi to celebrate the last Madaraka Day under President Uhuru Kenyatta today.

It will also be President Uhuru Kenyatta’s last national celebrations which will be held at the Gardens in Nairobi, which he referred to as the ‘people’s garden’.

Interior PS Karanja Kibicho said the event’s significance to the Jubilee administration informed the decision to host it in Nairobi, a deviation from the presidential directive that has seen counties host the celebrations.

“This is the earliest we have ever been to a national celebration. And as a committee, we are satisfied that we will be able to give Kenyans a very colourful day. The infrastructure is in place, and all the things that are required are here,” said Kibicho.

School children will also be back in the menu as the event organisers seek to inject more variety and fun to celebrations that mark the date that the country obtained self-governance.

Children’s role

“We have not also been having participation of children because of the pandemic, but this time we shall bring them on board and hopefully have celebrations across all the counties,” the PS said of the event where Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Wonie Bio will be the chief guest.

The garden was publicly opened during last year’s Jamhuri Day fete, where the celebrations were held but was then closed to allow completion of some sections. 

It is at Uhuru Gardens where Kenyans gathered to celebrate its independence in 1963 and after the nation got its republic status in 1964.

According to President Kenyatta, the garden will be a place of remembrance, where Kenyans can celebrate their history.

“By creating this garden as a place of remembrance, our Founding Fathers wanted generations to recall the darkness of our colonial past, but not to be stuck in the pessimism that dark memories can breed,” he said.

Whenever Kenyans congregate at the place of remembrance (Uhuru Garden), Uhuru says that it will be a call to renew the Soul of the Nation and appreciate the pain felt and sacrifices made by those who went before us.

Fallen soldiers

“The fallen soldiers and heroes are buried in unmarked graves in prisons and camps all over the country. That is why the project under construction before you at this site was initiated,” he added.

Apart from Uhuru Gardens being a place of remembrance and healing, it will be an arena where the past, the present and the future will converge.

Uhuru Gardens has been a project more sentimental to the President, who ordered its closure in August 2020.

Since the closure, President Kenyatta has been making impromptu visits to the gardens whenever he had time almost every Sunday to inspect progress.

He will also commission a Mashujaa Museum at the facility. The state-of-the-art museum is set to act as an archive of Kenya’s history since 1800.

The museum will include a Hall of Legends, which will showcase the lives of Kenya’s legendary ancestors including Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Mekatilili wa Menza, Koitalel Arap Samoei, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Nabongo Mumia among others.

There will also be the Tunnel of Martyrs, as a memorial to Kenyans who lost their lives during the country’s darkest moments.

In the Rope Gallery of the museum, a named rope will be dedicated to every one of the 1,090 heroic souls that were hanged during the colonial era. The Darkness Gallery is where Kenya’s lowest moments will be displayed. The museum’s Hall of Innovation will celebrate the brilliant and game-changing ideas produced by Kenyans. This hall will speak to the coming future and how our past has guided it. “The hall, marked by a spear pointing up, characterises our latest exploits, our moments of great hope and national pride, and our bold path into the future,” the President said.

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