Death of Mzee Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta died in his sleep on 22nd August 1978 while in Mombasa. Though his precise date of birth was not known, he must have been well into his eighties at the time of his death. He had previously suffered a heart attack in 1966 and in the mid-seventies would lapse into periodic comas. Kenyatta was buried on August 31st 1978, in Nairobi, at the mausoleum in the grounds of Parliament. He was accorded a full State funeral. Vice President Daniel Arap Moi assumed office as acting President and later became Kenya’s second President. He pledged to continue Kenyatta's good work - under a philosophy he called ‘Nyayo’ a Swahili word for 'Footsteps'.