During his heyday as a politician, Simon Kuria Kanyingi loved the media. Journalists also loved Kayingi so much that his name was a common feature in newspaper and broadcast news bulletins.

In Parliament, the former Limuru MP was a darling of the media and angry, publicity-starved MPs complained that national broadcaster Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) always reserved a camera for Kanyingi.

But perhaps, it would have been impossible to think about the media without Kanyingi.

Just how would a man who would walki into a harambee and donate Sh1,000,000 miss in the newspapers?

In 1996, the diminutive former Limuru MP attended two fundraisers in two weeks and contributed a total of Sh3 million in cash – Sh1 million at one and Sh2 million at the other. That was and still is a lot of money.

But that was the nature of the humble vehicle mechanic who rose to become a billionaire and a politician of note.

The media and the grapevine were full of stories of his generosity and deep pockets, which he emptied during harambees.
The story is told of a Catholic Church in Limuru that was desperate for Sh1 million to complete its building. When Kanyingi was invited for a harambee, he asked how much it needed to get the work done.

“Sh250,000,” he was told.

“Use the money to entertain the guests, parishioners and on other preparations,” he reportedly replied. Needless to say, he gave them the Sh1 million.

The man was also a shrewd businessman. When the apartheid regime crumbled in South Africa and the country’s economy opened up, the man from Limuru was among the first Kenyans to invest there. He acquired a four-storey hotel that he later gave up under pressure from locals.

Before he made a debut in Parliament in 2002, flamboyance and publicity—good publicity—were Kanyingi’s second name. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, every few days, Kanyingi would burst onto television screens presenting a new bus to Limuru or Lari women groups.

The man knew how to hog the limelight and journalists, who were never far away, were his bosom buddies.

But that was then. When he died last week it was revealed that journalists, were the last people that Kanyingi wanted close to his body.

Well, it appears the man who loved the media during his days as a politician had developed an aversion for it. Before his death, he had left strict instructions about how his burial should be conducted. Funeral chairman Milton Njoroge told mourners that Kanyingi had instructed his family not to allow any media coverage.

The politician had also decreed that no funeral announcement should be published in the media - print or broadcast. Just why Kanyingi did not want media coverage in death remains a mystery.

But it was not only his instruction to the media that shocked those who braved the chilly weather to pay their last respects to the former MP at St John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Kabuku village, Limuru County, and later at his home.

Unlike his flamboyant lifestyle that saw him traverse the country, conducting high profile fundraisers and contributing large sums of money, his burial was largely a sombre, low-key affair.

There were no flowers and pictures allowed in both the church and where he was laid to rest in his compound, where entry was strictly by invitation.

Ordinarily, having dined and wined with the mighty as well as the lowly in the society, many would have expected a grand send-off  befitting his status. The only thing befitting Kanyingi’s statu - I daresay - was his silver coloured coffin with its gold-plated handles and the Mercedes hatchback hearse.

The requiem mass was celebrated by Nairobi Arch-Diocese Auxiliary Bishop David Kamau who asked his family and Christians in general to emulate the life of the former legislator, a staunch Catholic “who united people and never created enemies”.

No politicians

Kamau also revealed that Kanyingi at one time told him that he had a shrine in his compound and wished that Christians would visit and worship their Maker in the holy place.

Funeral chairman Njoroge, revealed that Kanyingi had requested that politicians should not be allowed to speak at his funeral.

Njoroge, however, pleaded with the family to go against this wish and let a couple of politicians speak.

The family allowed Kiambu Governor William Kabogo and Limuru MP John Kiragu to give their condolences.

“Before he died, I shared a couple of issues with him which I will not reveal in public. I will visit his family later and tell them what we discussed,” said Kabogo.

Only Kanyingi’s first wife Jeroith Wangui, second wife Susan Wangu and their children and grandchildren were allowed at the burial at his Tigoni home.

The former MP had also cautioned his family against receiving donations for funeral expenses. Any donations received unintentionally were to be given to the church.