Ldyia N Mathai is the mother of his six children; four boys and two girls
By Undercover Reporter
Mwangi Mathai, the former MP for Lang’ata Constituency and hubby of the late Nobel Peace Laureate Prof Wangari Mathai, died recently aged 84. Unknown to many, he remarried after their much publicized, acrimonious divorce in 1979.
While Prof Maathai never remarried-at least to our knowledge-Mwangi did not remain single for long. In between retreating to a private life, minding his soap manufacturing and tea packaging business, Mwangi remarried and had children with another woman-Lydia N Mathai-the mother of his six children; four boys and two girls. Lydia, however, remained in the shadows for 40 years.
Even when Mwangi, the son of a pastor, came from the shadow to attend
the State Funeral of Prof Wangari Maathai alongside his three children
at Uhuru Park Nairobi in 2011, Lydia did not become public fodder.
The couple was mostly seen in diplomatic functions where Mwangi was
invited courtesy of being the Life Member of the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association. Like in 2014 when they both graced the 65th
Republic Day of India with Lydia by his side, resplendent in a
sari, the free flowing Indian drape dress.
I was stunned. This was real: Mwangi had made a decision to leave me-Prof Wangari Maathai
Before marrying Lydia, Mwangi was in a rocky marriage which nosed south in 1977 followed by a divorce that was messy and noisy, two years later. Among Mwangi’s allegations were cruelty and infidelity between Prof Wangari and then
Nyeri Town MP, the late Waruru Kanja.
In her 2006 memoirs, Unbowed: One Woman’s Story, Prof Wangari recalls
how she came home from work, in July 1977, to find the house in a mess:
“There was packing material on the floor; some of the paintings on the wall were missing, and curtains, the record player, the television and other furnishings were gone… I was stunned. This was real: Mwangi had made a decision to leave me.”
While Mwangi was an MP, Prof Mathai was East Africa’s first woman PhD
holder and she speculated that Mwangi might have been intimidated as a result. She argued that “it was an unspoken problem that I and not my husband had a PhD. and taught in the university.”
She continued: “Having to prove that he is in charge can put a lot of pressure on a man,” she wrote. “Such pressure can intensify to the point where it eventually wreaks havoc on a young couple and a young marriage.”
Mwangi Mathai was survived by nine children and 10 grandchildren.
