Tribute to Comrade Humphrey Kimani Ndegwa aka ‘Kim wa RPP’

Last Sunday I spent great time with Comrade Kimani Ndegwa at his small house in Nairobi’s Dandora Phase 5, together with other comrades such as Munga Gathogo and Otsieno Namwaya, a reseacher with with Human Rights Watch in Kenya who had visited Kimani as well. None of us suspected that he could pass away so soon, although he was quite unwell. Kimani died of liver cancer at Kenyatta National Hospital in the early hours of Monday, 22 September. It is a deep loss for his wife and children and the rest of the family. But it is also a moment of great sadness for the human rights defenders’ movement in Kenya. I wish to express my heartfelt and comradely condolences to Kimani’s wife, the children and the larger family during this time of sorrow.

Kimani’s passing is poignant reminder to us all of the betrayal of the foot soldiers of Kenya’s “Second Liberation” movement which fought against and achieved the end of the tyrannical rule of former President Daniel arap Moi. Kimani is among the many unsung heroes of that movement. It is a great tragedy that in the last five years or so we have lost many comrades in the human rights defenders’ movement who have transitioned early in their lives largely due to the grave lack of adequate healthcare support and solidarity from the human rights movement and the Kenyan society in general whose emancipation they so completely devoted their lives to.

Humphrey Kimani Ndegwa distinguished himself as a foot soldier of the Second Liberation movement and embodied the emerging grassroots social movement in Kenya today. Comrade Kim was recruited in the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD), the pro-democracy movement founded in the early 1990s, while he was working at Jadini Beach Hotel in Mombasa. He had worked at the hotel from 1989 after graduating from Utalii College in Nairobi. Jadini Beach Hotel is associated with Kenneth Matiba, one of the remarkable pro-democracy leaders in Kenya in the early 1990s. Kimani was recruited as a youth to join the reform movement under FORD. As pro-democracy activist would rub with the doyens of opposition of still outlawed opposition: Jaramogi Odinga, Charles Rubia, Paul Muite, and other supportive figures such as fomer US Ambassador Smith Hempstone. They would hold clandestine meetings at the hotel to consult and plan for rallies and other strategic actions in the struggle for re-introduction of mult-party politics in Kenya. Later, Kimani joined the vocal and tireless Release Political Prisoner pressure group, serving the organization with undivided dedication.

Today, we must accept that Kimani is no more but his spirit and passion for social justice live on with the new generation of grassroots activists that he helped to nurture in Mathare, Muranga, Kibera and many places in the country.

Kimani spent his life working for the grassroot movement not just in RPP but also in the Unga Revolution, Muugano Wa Wanavijiji and Bunge La Mwananchi. Many people who followed the activities of these groups will for a long time recall him carrying a megaphone in every social protest we organized: against extra-judicial killings and police brutality, demanding action on the high cost of living which especially hit the many urban poor, agitating for the rights of people living in slums, Occupy Parliament, and so on. He was indeed the activist for all seasons. Comrade Kim would publicize his human rights campaigns work on his Facebook page and other social media to keep the human rights movement informed of important activities.

Without a doubt Comrade Kimani’s deep commitment to the history of our struggle turned him into something of a walking library; a man with photographic memory of the pro-democracy movement going back to the 1990s. He kept great historical documentation of the movement. When the renowned environmentalist Prof Wangari Maathai died in 2011, Comrade Kimani organized with other social movements a Wangari Mathaai memorial at which historical photos of the Freedom Corner struggles were showcased for three days capturing the women’s unprecedented vigil and subsequent protest at Karura Forest against destruction of the environment by the Moi regime.

More recently, we we together this May at the African Liberation Day cerebration and later attended a training organized by Global Platform Doctivist ,where Kimani Ndegwa participated in making a social justice Documentary on life and struggle of Street Children in Nairobi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1dV4sW5SJE). It was during this training that he started feeling unwell.

Kimani died after great pain as he struggled with liver cancer in a poor public health system. He sacrificed his youthful life for the true liberation of our Motherland, Kenya, so that our great people can access quality education, healthcare and livelihoods of dignity.

As a grassroots movement we will dearly miss his comradely solidarity and devotion to the struggle especially during this time when the future of Kenya remains uncertain for the majority poor.

It is important that, as a social justice movement, we must never forget our past collective struggles with Comrade Kim, even if material conditions separate us during this time neoliberalism - a reality that appears to have enslaved segment of the human rights movement in Kenya. The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting, wrote Milan Kundera.

As we return the remains of our Comrade to the soil of our ancestors in Muran’ga County, the land of Mau Mau revolution, let us not forget Kimani’s family. Let us think of ways in which we can give his children especially the comradely solidarity and material support. Cde Humphrey Kimani Ndegwa will be laid to rest on Wednesday 1st October 2014 at his rural home at Gikui, Kangema in Murang'a County.

Rest in Peace Comrade Kim! We will never forget your undying commitment to the struggle for our Motherland Kenya!

Aluta Contunua!

* Gacheke Gachihi is an organizer with Bunge la Mwananchi (The People's Parliament), a social justice movement in Kenya.