Veteran politician John Keen mourned former First Lady Lucy Kibaki yesterday.
Describing Lucy as a nice and honourable lady, the octogenarian born to a German father and who served as Kajiado North MP for a decade, recalled how he met Lucy.
"I knew her when she was teaching at Kamboi Secondary School in Kiambu County before she was married," said the former Agriculture assistant minister.
Mr Keen revealed that he and his friend, the late Njenga Karume, were impressed by Lucy and since they were also close to Kibaki, they urged him to go for her.
"Kibaki is a cool man and was always busy but when he set his eyes on Lucy, he was love-struck. Karume and myself encouraged him and their love blossomed," Keen recalled.
He revealed that the three (Kibaki, Keen and Karume) then strategised on how to win Lucy over so that Kibaki could marry her.
"The three of us would quietly go to Kamboi School where Lucy taught and resided and drive her away in our car to many social joints. She loved to be with us and she loved Kibaki," Keen said.
He continued: "I remember in 1960 when I was driving my Volkswagen to Mombasa with Kibaki to campaign for Kanu, we almost drove into an elephant and Kibaki's prayer was that we should not die and leave Lucy behind."
Kibaki was Kanu's executive officer while Keen was the party's national organising secretary. Keen later left for the US but he stayed in communication with Kibaki, who later married Lucy.
"When I returned, Njenga and myself were impressed that our efforts to link the two bore fruit and that they were happily living together as a family," he said.
Describing Lucy as a no-nonsense woman, Keen said she was possessive and never wanted Kibaki to leave her for long periods of time.
"She was outspoken, decisive and spoke her mind. She didn't like the idea of her husband being away from her. One day when Kibaki overstayed in Nyeri while she was in Nairobi, she ordered the provincial administration to look for him and bring him back," Keen said.
