- Kibaki recognised the fighter posthumously among others terming them heroes.
- The recognition was augmented by the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010 which saw the national heroes honoured.
Image: COURTESY
As Mukami Kimathi, the matriarch who has been the face of Mau Mau freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi rests, some monuments remain for his remembrance.
Kimathi's widow aged 96 breathed her last on Thursday night, according to her daughter Evelyn.
The Mau Mau rebels were honoured by the late President Mwai Kibaki.
Kibaki recognised the fighter posthumously among others terming them heroes.
“We are honouring a great man who not only sacrificed his life for the liberation of Kenya but also inspired others to fight against oppression,” Kibaki said on February 18, 2007, as he unveiled Kimathi's statue in the City.
The recognition was augmented by the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010 which saw the national heroes honoured.
Located at the junction of Kimathi Street and Mama Ngina Street, near the Hilton Hotel is the 2.1-meter bronze statue.
It is titled "Freedom Fighter Dedan Kimathi" on a graphite plinth.
Kimathi, clad in military regalia, holds a rifle in their right hand and a dagger in the left, the last weapons he held in his struggle.
Records say about 32 white civilians and 100 British soldiers were killed by the Mau Mau.
The unveiling of the statue coincided with the 50th anniversary of the day he was executed.
Kimathi is credited with leading efforts to create formal military structures within the Mau Mau, and convening a war council in 1953.
Alongside Musa Mwariama, General China and Muthoni Kirima, he was one of the Field Marshals.
On September 12, 2015, the British government also unveiled a Mau Mau memorial statue in Nairobi's Uhuru Park that it funded "as a symbol of reconciliation between the British government, the Mau Mau, and all those who suffered".
In his remembrance also is an academic institution-Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Nyeri.
The varsity is the successor of the Kimathi Institute of Technology (KIT) established in 1972.
It was upgraded to a University status in 2007 and renamed Kimathi University College of Technology (KUCT), a constituent college of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
The institution acquired full university status and current name after being granted its charter in 2012.
Kibaki presided over the event where he handed over the charter.