Lucy Kibaki — a formidable and controversial First Lady — passed away in the presence of former President Mwai Kibaki, with two of her children at her hospital bedside.
Lucy had to London where doctors battled to save her life.
Kibaki arrived on Monday, her daughter Judy Wanjiku was already in London with her brother Anthony Githinji.
"Mzee is devastated and his children, especially Judy, who has been at her bedside since she arrived here, is distraught," said a family friend from London.
Lucy's death was on Monday by President Uhuru Kenyatta. She was 82.
Mama Lucy, as she was fondly known, was at Nairobi Hospital in early February with chest pains. She was flown to London over the weekend after her condition deteriorated.
Though she abruptly disappeared from public view two years before the end of her husband's reign, her role in the government was formidable and controversial.
She stormed and shut the State House bar, broke up a cartel she believed misled her husband. She expelled a powerful power broker. She stormed a neighbor's house and demanded his arrest for disturbing the peace. She stormed a newspaper office with bodyguards and demanded the arrest of a reporter.
Lucy was a woman to be feared.
She arrived as First Lady in 2002, a seemingly benign presence soon overtaken by an aggressive persona. Many were offended by her domineering attitude, temper and combative nature. She talked down to her husband's political opponents and critics.
She slapped, manhandled and insulted anyone who she considered a threat to her family.
Her death was not unexpected. Rumours of her ill-health have abounded since she abruptly bowed out of the limelight in 2010.
Also read:
Mama Lucy had not been seen in public since August 27, 2010, when the current constitution took effect.
The last public photos of Lucy show her dancing a jig and joining throngs in Uhuru Park as the country ushered in a new era.
Born in Nyeri County to Presbyterian prelate John Kagai and Rose Nyachomba in 1934, Lucy was educated at Alliance High School. She became a primary school teacher and later trained teachers in former Central Province. She became principal at Kambui TTC.
She met Kibaki in 1960, a meeting facilitated by Njenga Karume, a powerful businessman.
Spurred by nationalism and the independence struggle, Kibaki himself had quit his teaching job at Makerere University in Uganda to return home.
They married in 1962 and had four children: Judy, Jimi, Tony and David. Their marriage lasted 54 years, until Monday.
Until 2003, Lucy was a reserved wife and mother in Muthaiga, living in the shadow of her husband, then a high-flying Cabinet Minister, Vice President and leader of the opposition.
Some say she was the pillar of the family's success.
There are stories of the fiercely devoted wife who often stormed Kibaki's favourite drinking den to drag her tipsy husband home late at night. She operated from the shadows as Kibaki rose from MP in 1963 to become a minister, vice president and President in 2002.
From then on, it was clear Mama Lucy would be no ordinary First Lady.
A forceful First Lady emerged. She never wavered in her defence and protection of the people she loved from real or perceived slights or threats.
At times, this caused deep embarrassment to her husband and family.
At first, her arrival at State House was cheered. She was part of the antidote to the malfeasance of the Moi state during the 24-year Kanu rule when there was no First Lady.
Some suggested without a strong woman to guide him, Moi had allowed massive corruption.
Lucy earned high marks when she stormed and shut down a bar inside State House, a watering hole for a cabal of powerful men who had ring-fenced the new President from his people.
Soon afterward, she expelled from , the octogenarian former Kerugoya Kutus MP, whom Kibaki had picked as his first Comptroller of State Houses. He was a key player in the now-infamous group advising Kibaki to dishonor the controversial MoU with the Raila Odinga team that catapulted the Narc machine to power in 2002.
Keriri was among the cabal of ethnic supremacists who took advantage of Kibaki’s sickness to insulate him from "outsiders".
Lucy Kibaki earned instant public approval and rave reviews.
However, the lustre wouldn't last. Her publicly combative style soon peeved the very public that had cheered her arrival. The Kibaki State House became synonymous with the Moi State House and also became a place where family turf wars and business conflict raged.
The much-talked about Mt Kenya mafia manipulated the new President into making many unpopular decisions. Mama Lucy's acts of aggression made it worse.
In full glare of TV cameras, she refused to shake Keriri's hand.
She stormed the house of Moktar Diop, the World Bank's outgoing boss (rented from the Kibakis) and ordered him to switch off loud music.
Wearing a pair of shorts, she stormed Muthaiga Police station and demanded Diop and guests be arrested for disturbing her peace.
Later she and her bodyguards burst into Nation Centre, the offices of the Nation Media Group, and demanded the arrest of the reporter who had written about her confrontation with Diop.
She slapped journalist Richard Chesos and cameraman Clifford Derrick, who was filming her.
You didn't cross Mama Lucy.