Details have emerged that Tharaka Nithi prominent businessmen Francis Kiambi Kiriiro, who was found dead at his Karen home had domestic differences with his wife.
According to a report recorded at Karen Police Station by his wife, Mary Waingwe Muthoni, Matanka died on his bed, and she discovered the body at 6am on Monday.
She reported that there were some domestic differences and that they slept in different bedrooms that night.
Ms Muthoni told police that on Saturday they held a meeting with her late husband, his relative and a family lawyer at Big Smoke Bar and Restaurant located in Karen shopping centre where they also took some drinks.
She said they had differences with her husband because she refused to guarantee him a loan of Sh2 billion for starting a business.
She said they arrived home ten minutes past midnight on Sunday and Mr Kiambi could be heard snoring throughout Sunday night before he was discovered dead on Monday.
She said she called a doctor from Karen Hospital who confirmed that he was dead at around 9am and police visited the scene for assessment before the body was moved to Lee Funeral Home awaiting autopsy.
According to police the body had no physical injuries, but the deceased had vomited besides the bed.
Kiambi has been mourned as Tharaka community fallen hero and lost asset.
The 50-year-old businessman and politician was a philanthropist who responded to calls of both the rich and poor and never missed community functions despite being based in Nairobi.
With his background in agronomy, Matanka, as he was popularly known uplifted the economic status of Tharaka community by introducing watermelon and gadam sorghum farming which earned the locals a lot of money with many people able to pay school fees for their children and many people moved from grass thatched houses and built iron sheet roofed homes.
During introduction of the two crops, Kiambi distributed free seeds and sourced for companies to buy the produce direct from the farms.
Many locals started referring to him as Matanka, the local dialect name for watermelon and with time it became a household name. When he joined politics in 2007, he legally adopted the name.
The deceased ran for Tharaka Member of Parliament seat in 2007 and lost to Mburi Muiru and in 2017 he contested against Interior and Coordination of National Government Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki for the senatorial seat, but he also lost.
Matanka did not run for any seat during the recent polls and kept off politics as he concentrated on expanding his business. The deceased has sponsored many children from poor families from primary school to the university.
While insisting on the need for Tharaka community to embrace education, Matanka always said that “an uneducated community is slave of the neighbouring educated communities”.
He built many public schools in Tharaka community including participating in a fundraiser for construction the first buildings in Tharaka University.
Every December festive season, Matanka invited the residents for a feast while the traditional dancers entertained them for days.
Out of his love for the community, a veteran singer, Newton Karish from neighbouring Embu County composed a song describing Matanka as a self-less leader.
News of his death shook the community with social media platforms being filled with grieving messages from across the county and country.
“Death of Matanka is a huge blow to Tharaka community and it may take many years to fill the gap he has left,” wrote Sabastian Mwangangi, a Tharaka constituency resident.
Interior CS Prof Kithure Kindiki, Governor Muthomi Njuki and Woman Rep Susan Ngugi mourned Matanka as an astute businessman who was an asset to the county and country at large.
Prof Kindiki said Matanka was an iconic entrepreneur who not only built an impeccable business empire but also helped inspire a generation of businesspeople from the Ameru region and nation at large.
He said he will he remembered as an astute business leader whose acumen saw him establish one of the largest manufacturing industries in Kenya, employing hundreds of people directly and impacting thousands of lives.
“We are poorer as a people without this brave and selfless leader. Matanka’s leadership, towering personality and generosity will be missed by many particularly Tharaka community among whom he had made life-changing investments. This reminds us that we are all passersby on this earth and life is just a fickle,” said Prof Kindiki.
The leaders appealed for thorough investigations the death even as they condoled with his immediate family.
