Kenneth Matiba

{{Short description|Kenyan politician and activist}} {{Use British English|date=January 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba | honorific_suffix = Hon | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | office = Leader of Opposition | term_start = 1992 | term_end = 1997 | president = Daniel arap Moi | taoiseach = | predecessor = | successor = | order1 = | office1 = Member of Parliament for Kiharu | term_start1 = 1992 | term_end1 = 1997 | president1 = Daniel arap Moi | predecessor1 = | successor1 = | constituency1 = | majority1 = | office2 = Minister of Transport and Communications | term_start2 = 1983 | term_end2 = December 1988 | president2 = Daniel arap Moi | taoiseach2 = | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | order3 = | office3 = Minister of Health | term_start3 = 1983 | term_end3 = 1988 | president3 = Daniel arap Moi | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | order4 = | office4 = Minister of Culture and Social Services | term_start4 = 1983 | term_end4 = 1988 | president4 = Daniel arap Moi | predecessor4 = | successor4 = | order5 = | office5 = Member of Parliament for Mbiri | term_start5 = 1979 | term_end5 = 1990 | president5 = Daniel arap Moi | predecessor5 = | successor5 = | constituency5 = | majority5 = | order6 = | office6 = Chairman of the Kenya Football Federation | term_start6 = 1974 | term_end6 = 1978 | president6 = Jomo Kenyatta | predecessor6 = | successor6 = | order7 = | office7 = Permanent Secretary for Commerce | term_start7 = 1964 | term_end7 = 1968 | president7 = Jomo Kenyatta | predecessor7 = | successor7 = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1932|6|1}}<ref name="New African">{{cite book|title=New African|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvzsAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=10 July 2013|year=2002|publisher=IC Magazines Limited}}</ref> | birth_place = Murang'a, Kenya | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2018|4|15|1932|6|1}} | party = Saba Saba Asili | other_party = | spouse = Edith Matiba | relations = | children = Susan Matiba <br /> Raymond Matiba<br /> Ivy Matiba <br /> Julie Matiba<br /> Gitau Matiba | alma_mater = Makerere University (BA in Sociology, Geography and History.)<ref name="dn1">{{Cite web|title=Detention saved Matiba from the sword of Kanu killers, says Edith|url=http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Detention-saved-Matiba-from-the-sword-of-Kanu-killers/-/1064/1906344/-/82mva9/-/index.html|first=Laban |last=Walloga|date=5 June 2013|publisher=Nation Media Group|accessdate=10 July 2013}}</ref> | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes = | blank1 = | data1 = }}

'''Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba''' (1 June 1932 – 15 April 2018) was a Kenyan politician and an activist for democracy who came in at second place in the 1992 presidential election. In November 2007, he announced that he would stand as a presidential candidate in the December 2007 election,<ref>The Standard, 16 November 2007: {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071117022217/http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143977528 Matiba set to contest presidency]}}</ref> where he was placed seventh, with 8,046 votes.

==Early career== Matiba became a senior civil servant at age 31. Before Kenya attained its independence in December 1963, he became the first indigenous African Permanent Secretary for Education (in May of that year).<ref name="turks">Daily Nation, 13 April 2003: {{cite web|url=http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/13042003/Comment/Opinion_Analysis1304200324.html |title=The Influential Young Turks of the 60s |accessdate=2017-04-21 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040109145832/http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/13042003/Comment/Opinion_Analysis1304200324.html |archivedate= 9 January 2004 }}</ref> Matiba was mentored by Carey Francis, headmaster of Alliance High School, who lobbied for his promotion to permanent secretary. In 1964, Matiba was appointed Permanent Secretary for Commerce under Minister Mwai Kibaki.<ref name="turks" />

Matiba continued to succeed during the post-colonial period, helped by his connection to the Kiambu family of Musa Gitau, one of the first Africans to become a minister in the Kenyan Presbyterian Church (Matiba is Gitau's son-in-law). Gitau also influenced Jomo Kenyatta, having taught him at the PCEA Center, Thogoto, Kikuyu. In the patron-client reward system established by Kenyatta after independence, such connections were important to success in the public and private sectors. Matiba later left his civil-service career for one in the hospitality industry, establishing the Alliance Group of Hostels based on the South Coast. He also invested in exclusive private schools, including Hillcrest Preparatory (founded by Frank Thompson) and Hillcrest Secondary School.

Matiba was chairman of the Kenya Football Federation from 1974 to 1978, and was elected to the Kenyan Parliament in the 1983 general elections from the Mbiri Constituency (later renamed Kiharu) in the Muranga District.<ref name="Multiparty">Center for Multiparty Democracy: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080228121210/http://www.cmd.or.ke/images/Politics%20and%20Paliamenterians%20in%20Kenya.pdf Politics and Parliamentarians in Kenya 1944–2007]</ref> He served as Minister of Transport and Communications under the KANU administration led by President Daniel arap Moi, resigning in December 1988.

==Political activism== At Moi's behest, Matiba was held without trial at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in 1990 with Charles Rubia, a member of the Kenyan Cabinet who also called for multiparty democracy.<ref>Amnesty USA, 7 February 1991: [http://www.amnestyusa.org/regions/africa/document.do?id=578E73685AA90B91802569A6006007FC Medical Concern: Kenneth Matiba]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> While in prison Matiba was refused medication and suffered a stroke, which affected half his body and incapacitated him for some time. Later, a multiparty system was instituted and Matiba was released.

He was part of the opposition alliance forming the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD). During the December 1992 election, Matiba was the candidate representing FORD-Asili, a party he helped found in splintering from the original FORD. President Moi won the election on the KANU ticket; Matiba placed second, winning the Kiharu Constituency parliamentary seat in the concurrent parliamentary elections.<ref name="Multiparty"/> He boycotted the December 1997 election (citing a lack of democracy), burning his voter's card.<ref>The Standard, 26 November 2006:{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071011102716/http://eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143961617 Anxiety over return of Kenneth Matiba]}}</ref> Matiba had a long-standing rivalry with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. Before the December 2002 election Matiba was leader of the minor Saba Saba Asili party, which declined to join the NARC coalition;<ref>The Standard, 26 November 2006: {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071016192410/http://eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143961618 Why former Kiharu MP will never forgive Kibaki]}}</ref> however, he did not run for the presidency or a parliamentary seat.

In his later years, Matiba was dogged by ill-health stemming from his 1990 imprisonment. His business holdings also suffered, with his hotel chain being briefly taken into administration (although he regained control) and Hillcrest School sold by administrators (a case he legally contested). Matiba regained control of the school, which he later sold to a consortium led by Fanisi.

He founded ''The People'' newspaper. It began as a weekly in 1992, becoming a daily in 1998. However, it was a drain on Matiba's finances.<ref>[http://www.pressreference.com/Gu-Ku/Kenya.html KENYA Press, Media, TV, Radio, Newspapers]</ref>

As of 2008, he remained chairman of Saba Saba Asili and re-registered as a voter.<ref>Daily Nation, 29 September 2007: [http://politics.nationmedia.com/inner.asp?sid=632 Anxiety grips Murang'a as Matiba gets new voter's card]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Personal life== In 2000 Matiba released his autobiography, ''Aiming High''.<ref name="turks" /> As of 2010 he lived in Riara Ridge, Rironi (near Limuru), with his wife, Edith.<ref>The Standard, 27 February 2010: He will be remembered as one of the pioneer fighters of multipartysm in Kenya and was tortured by former president Daniel Moi. [http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/news/InsidePage.php?id=2000004365&cid=159&story=Raila,%20visits%20Matiba%20ahead%20of%20Kigumo%20tour Raila, visits Matiba ahead of Kigumo tour] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924102839/http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/news/InsidePage.php?id=2000004365&cid=159&story=Raila,%20visits%20Matiba%20ahead%20of%20Kigumo%20tour |date=24 September 2011 }}</ref> Their son, Raymond Matiba, is a former chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board and the grangson is Richard "Astar" Njau.<ref>Financial Post: [http://www.financialpost.co.ke/Pdfs/FP%20ISSUE%20123.pdf Kenya eyes a trillion shilling market] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722131837/http://www.financialpost.co.ke/Pdfs/FP%20ISSUE%20123.pdf |date=22 July 2011 }}</ref>

Matiba died on 15 April 2018 at the Karen Hospital after a long illness.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tuko.co.ke/271204-veteran-politician-kenneth-matiba-dead.html#271204 |title=Veteran politician Kenneth Matiba is dead |last=Otinga |first=Rene |date=15 April 2018 |website=TUKO.co.ke |publisher= |access-date=15 April 2018}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}} * https://archive.today/20131216035223/http://nipate.com/remembering-kenneth-matiba-t1381.html * http://kumekucha1.blogspot.com/2007/08/kenneth-matibas-presidential-campaign.html * http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jolte/article/viewFile/52003/40638 * https://web.archive.org/web/20131220232323/http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/mar/chronology.asp?groupId=50103

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matiba, Kenneth}} Category:1932 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Kenyan democracy activists Category:Kenyan businesspeople Category:Kenya African National Union politicians Category:Prisoners and detainees of Kenya Category:Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – Asili politicians Category:Alumni of Alliance High School (Kenya) Category:Makerere University alumni Category:People from Murang'a County Category:Members of the National Assembly (Kenya) Category:Candidates for President of Kenya