C&P from historyke
Three months after Mzee Kenyatta died, in November of 1978, his mausoleum played host to unusual visitors one Sunday night.
What is known is that Lt. Gen (Rtd) Daniel Opande, then a Lieutenant Colonel, received a call from Kenya’s military chief, Gen. Mulinge. The latter wanted to know who was the commanding officer of the army unit responsible for guard duties at the mausoleum.
Mulinge instructed Opande that the Director of Medical Services, Dr. Eric N. Mngola, would call him to provide details for the retrieval of the body of Mzee Kenyatta. Opande was to oversee execution of the request. He was further ordered to report back to Mulinge as soon as the exercise was over.
Shortly after Gen. Mulinge’s call, Dr. Mngola telephoned Opande. The doctor asked to meet with Opande at the mausoleum the following night (Sunday).
I should point out that Dr. Mngola had previously served as Mzee’s personal doctor.
At 9.30pm on the material Sunday night, Dr. Mngola met with Lt. Col. Opande and a Major Kamiti, the Commanding Officer of the Company responsible for military guard duties at the mausoleum.
They watched as a number of soldiers spent some time meticulously retrieving Mzee’s casket from the mausoleum.
It was then placed in a waiting military ambulance and rushed to the City Mortuary, where there were attendants on standby.
They were led by a pathologist, one Dr. Rao.
Opande watched from a distance as the attendants removed Mzee’s body from the casket and, according to him, placed it on “a large table draped with a clean white sheet”.
“I watched carefully as they cleaned the remains that appeared very well maintained....”, Opande wrote in his autobiography.
Beyond the above description, Opande doesn’t provide further detail about what happened at the mortuary that night.
But whatever activity it was, it did not take much time as Mzee’s body was returned to the casket and rushed back to the Mausoleum after spending an hour at the mortuary.
According to The Standard, Mzee Kenyatta’s mausoleum consists of solid granite walls. There was a Bill in Parliament in 2018 seeking to have this and other monuments made accessible to the public for a fee.
I don’t know what happened to this Bill.
Three months after Mzee Kenyatta died, in November of 1978, his mausoleum played host to unusual visitors one Sunday night.
What is known is that Lt. Gen (Rtd) Daniel Opande, then a Lieutenant Colonel, received a call from Kenya’s military chief, Gen. Mulinge. The latter wanted to know who was the commanding officer of the army unit responsible for guard duties at the mausoleum.
Mulinge instructed Opande that the Director of Medical Services, Dr. Eric N. Mngola, would call him to provide details for the retrieval of the body of Mzee Kenyatta. Opande was to oversee execution of the request. He was further ordered to report back to Mulinge as soon as the exercise was over.
Shortly after Gen. Mulinge’s call, Dr. Mngola telephoned Opande. The doctor asked to meet with Opande at the mausoleum the following night (Sunday).
I should point out that Dr. Mngola had previously served as Mzee’s personal doctor.
At 9.30pm on the material Sunday night, Dr. Mngola met with Lt. Col. Opande and a Major Kamiti, the Commanding Officer of the Company responsible for military guard duties at the mausoleum.
They watched as a number of soldiers spent some time meticulously retrieving Mzee’s casket from the mausoleum.
It was then placed in a waiting military ambulance and rushed to the City Mortuary, where there were attendants on standby.
They were led by a pathologist, one Dr. Rao.
Opande watched from a distance as the attendants removed Mzee’s body from the casket and, according to him, placed it on “a large table draped with a clean white sheet”.
“I watched carefully as they cleaned the remains that appeared very well maintained....”, Opande wrote in his autobiography.
Beyond the above description, Opande doesn’t provide further detail about what happened at the mortuary that night.
But whatever activity it was, it did not take much time as Mzee’s body was returned to the casket and rushed back to the Mausoleum after spending an hour at the mortuary.
According to The Standard, Mzee Kenyatta’s mausoleum consists of solid granite walls. There was a Bill in Parliament in 2018 seeking to have this and other monuments made accessible to the public for a fee.
I don’t know what happened to this Bill.
