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From Tom Mboya to Uhuru Kenyatta: 6 Great weddings that defined Kenya’s true ‘Madaraka’

County_Nairobi
 Tom Mboya’s was the ‘wedding of the decade’;  then there was Uhuru Kenyatta's  Wamalwa had a ‘grand match to State House’

They say the easiest way to tell a couple’s best friend is to look at their best man and maid of honour. Indeed, being the best man in a wedding is a sign of ultimate honour and respect.

But besides personal friendships, best men are selected to cement political connections, family affiliations and business dynasties.

And so it was that prominent Kenyans who attained madaraka by quitting the boys’ club, chose best men who went on to become political, diplomatic and corporate titans who would define Kenya. Heko, Madaraka!

1. Uhuru Kenyatta

The future president wedded designer Margaret Wanjiru, daughter of former Kenya Railways MD, Dr Njuguna Gakuo, one early Saturday morning on December 2, 1989 at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi. Maurice Cardinal Otunga presided over the ceremony. His brother, Muhoho Kenyatta, was the best man. President Daniel arap Moi attended the wedding, together with his Cabinet, Mzee Kenyatta’s brother, James Muigai, and Mr and Mrs Gakuo.

2. Tom Mboya

Tom Mboya’s marriage to Pamela Adede on January 20, 1962 was dubbed  the “wedding of the decade.” Thousands thronged St Peter Claver’s Church in downtown Nairobi “where the latest London, French and Italian fashions mingled with tribal costumes at the church and at the reception.” The wedding was presided over by Nairobi Archbishop, JJ McCarthy.

Prof David Wasawo, the best student ever to come out of Alliance High, was best man, with Njonjo as one of the groomsmen. Among the 1,000 invited guests was Jomo Kenyatta and Mama Ngina, Oginga Odinga, Nairobi mayor Harold Travis, Kabaka of Uganda and future finance minister James Gichuru - who proposed a toast.

Pamela’s gown had a “snowy lace, a coronet of pearls and orange blossom surmounted on a simple waist-length veil of embroidered tulle.”

Njonjo, who was then a senior bachelor, lamented that Mboya had left him as the sole member of the ‘Bachelor’s Club’ which both founded.

There were 900 telegrams, including apostolic blessings from Pope John XXIII, Tanzanian Prime Minister Julius Nyerere regretted that his absence “was caused by the pressure of national business.” The Royal East African Navy wished Mboya well and advised that, “You could have been married at sea without all this fuss. We still have a navy.”

The reception, hosting 2,000 guests, was at Charter Hall where the Kiko Boys from the Equator Club entertained the guests.

Pamela, who converted to Catholicism that morning, was flown to Israel for the honeymoon.

Biographer David Galsworthy in Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted to Forget, notes that,  “It was without question the grandest wedding Nairobi had seen for years” and many people wondered, “Does Tom have to prove he can outdo Europeans in everything?”

3. Udi Gecaga

By the time the Princeton University educated Udi Gecaga was taking Jeni Wambui Kenyatta as a wife in 1973, he was the managing director of the powerful Lorno East Africa.

Being President Jomo Kenyatta’s daughter’s big day, the colourful event was aired live on VoK (Voice of Kenya), with Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Njoroge Mungai (whose sister Jemimah Gecaga was Udi’s mother) as the MC.

The best man was President Uhuru’s cousin, Ngengi Muigai. Years later in 1976, Udi was the best man at Ngengi’s wedding to Catherine Mathenge.

Kenyan High Commissioner to London, Ng’ethe Njoroge, Udi’s uncle, saw them off at the airport on their way to a round-the-world honeymoon that took them to Hawaii, Acapulco, Mexico and Japan.

4. Michael Wamalwa Kijana

In terms of sheer oomph and colour, only Kijana’s wedding in 2003 to long-time partner Yvonne Nambia, to whom he proposed in Shakespearean English, rivals the grand weddings of immediate post-independence Kenya.

His long ‘grand match to State House’ had culminated in the ‘Raila Tosha’ whirlwind that swept Kanu out of power and installed him as vice president. Now, the flamboyant Queen’s English speaking politician and ‘playboy’ was, for the second time, quitting the Bachelor’s Club in style, barely six months to his death. His bride arrived in a Ford vintage car.

Mwai Kibaki was there in his usual magisterial air, First Lady Lucy by his side. Raila Odinga, and the entire Narc Cabinet, was present, making the wedding a triumphant home-coming bash to celebrate the ‘second liberation.’ Musikari Kombo was the best man, with his bitter political foe and Wamalwa’s cousin, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, one of the groomsmen.

The wedding was not without humour, with Kitale Catholic Bishop Maurice Crowley, who presided over the ceremony, quipping, “We Kitale boys stick together!”

Kibaki too had a word of advice: “Women are not bad people. They sometimes behave like Kenyans, but they are not bad when you take good care of them!”

5. Charles Njonjo

Kenya’s long-serving attorney-general wedded Margaret Bryson at the All Saints Cathedral on November 18, 1972. The bashful bride, whom the barrister pinched from the church choir, was a supervisor for French instruction at the ministry of education and daughter of Africa Inland Church Missionary Stuart Bryson, the mzee who influenced retired President Moi into teaching, besides Stuart helping in translating the first Nandi Bible.

The provost of all Saints Cathedral, Rev Henry Okullu, presided over the wedding and preached from the Book of Mathew 21:33-34 on the theme of the ‘rejected stone.’

Njonjo’s best man was Kenya’s High Commissioner to London, Ng’ethe Mungai, brother to the late Dr Njoroge Mungai. Bruce McKenzie, the then Minister of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, was the other groomsman.

‘Sir’ Charles donned his trademark pin-stripped suit. Of course the honeymoon was in London.

6. Dr Njoroge Mungai

A speaker toasting during the wedding of the late Dr Njoroge Mungai in May 1972 said: “From now on, all your affairs must be foreign!”

Dr Mungai, the dashing Stanford alumnus, was Foreign Affairs minister and locally known for his open flings and flamboyant lifestyle that made him a well-known playboy “more at ease in casinos than at the ministry. His brother, Ambassador Nge’ethe Mungai, was one of the groomsmen.

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