One of Kenya’s most prominent women fighters during the struggle for independence has had her locks cut by the former first lady after more than 60 years.
Kenyans online are questioning the significance of such symbolic act and asking why now?
Muthoni Kirima who is aged over 90, had her long grey-haired dreadlocks shaved in a public event on Saturday – which some saw as a political stunt.
Kenyans who fought in the Mau Mau war of liberation, which lasted between 1952 and 1960, are said to have vowed that they would never shave their hair for as long as the British colonialists ruled the land.
But Ms Kirima was among the few who kept her locks after Kenya gained independence in 1963, even after many fighters had cut theirs.
It was a mark of defiance, and a reminder of the pain and perseverance that they had to go through fighting for independence – which she reckoned was not appreciated by successive governments.
