KENYA:Leaders Pay Tribute To the Late Nobel Laureate at a State Funeral

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Submitted by IQ4News on Sun, 09/10/2011 - 9:46am

The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner goes down in the annals of history as the first African woman to receive a Prize of such a status and the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a PhD. IQ4News Kenya reporter, Joab Apollo, reports.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Saturday led local and international leaders in paying last respect to the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Professor Wangari Muta Maathai in a state ceremony held at the Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park. Speakers at the function paid tribute to the late Maathai as an indefatigable leader whose ideals and vision will continue to inspire many.

Dedicated servant

President Mwai Kibaki desribed her as as dedicated servant who put the interest of the nation first at a time many were proccupied with advancing selfish ends.

"She demonstrated the virtue of selfless service to the nation. She planted trees to eradicate poverty , setting the birth of the Green Belt Movement. She was the most champion for environental sustainability and the first woman in Africa to receive the Nobel Peace Prize" President Kibaki said. He described her as a woman who beat all the odds to attain higher education during a period which African women were treated with disrespect.

"She became the first woman in East and Central Africa to receive a PhD in 1971 and the Ist to lead a University department and be appointed professor" Kibaki stressed.

Outstanding African Woman

Representing the diplomatic comunity, Norwegian ambassador to Kenya Mr. Per Ludvig Magnus euologised her as "Great and gifted with imaginary ideas, an outstanding African woman".

He said that the 2011 Nobel Peace award of Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson set for December was a better way of commemorating Professor Wangari Maathai.

The UN Deputy Secretary General in charge of African Affair Anna Tibaijuka who also represented Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikiwete at the function was at pains to believe that her friend whom they worked closely with on Environmental issues at the UNEP office in Nairobi had died.

"I have lost a friend, advisor and role model" she said, noting that she credits her success in life to the late environmental icon.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga recalled their days as reform advocates, saying Wangari was a pillar who risked her life for democracy to thrive.

"This site is called Freedom corner because of her efforts. A part from making it her practise to plant trees here, she resisted the effort by then KANU government to put a 60 storeyed building which would have defaced this place. Her legacy goes beyond Kenya" Raila said

UN deeply saddened

The UN Director General-Kenya Sally Zewedi said that "the UN is deeply saddened by the death of wangari Maathai. She fought for the ideals of the UN".

Conspicously absent during the ceremony was former Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi, a move many viewed as dictated by his KANU government's crackdown on refomists, Professor Maathai included, in the 1990's

Also present at the functin were cabinet Ministers, members of Parliament and other members of the International Community. The body was cremated at the Kariokor crematorium in Nairobi.