Nairobi CBD's popular street, Accra Road which serves as a landmark in the downtown has received a new name.
The popular street was named after the late Kenneth Matiba who worked as a former Cabinet Minister and one of the most prolific heroes of the Second Liberation.
Photos shared widely on social media on Wednesday, March 31, showed the initial signage being pulled down and the new one erected.
The name was changed after the approval of a motion by the Nairobi County Assembly in the week beginning Monday, March 22.
This honour for Matiba comes three years after his death in April 2018 while undergoing treatment at Karen hospital.
Due to his push for multiparty politics between 1988 and 1990, President Moi ordered that he be detained at Kamiti Maximum Prison without having a trial.
While in prison, he suffered a stroke after being denied medication and it incapacitated him for the rest of his life.
Matiba was also a close family friend and political mentor to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
After Jomo Kenyatta's death, Matiba played a father figure in the current President's life.
“He (Matiba) would call us for a game of squash and after that, he would challenge us to get into public service,” President Kenyatta said while mourning Matiba in 2018.
His detention saw Uhuru risk the Kenyatta family ties with Kenya's second president Daniel arap Moi.
On the afternoon of July 31, 1990, 29-year-old Uhuru organised a press conference with four other sons of prominent Kenyans to make a statement challenging the Moi government's dictatorial tendencies - just three weeks after Matiba had been arrested.
Any other person would have been jailed but Moi spared Kenyatta's son and his friends and a few months later, multiparty democracy was allowed in the country.
Matiba is considered a hero for his fight for democracy after he resigned from his role as a cabinet Minister during former President Daniel Moi regime.
The fallen statesman had joined the public service aged 28 and quickly rose up the ranks to become the elected member of the National Assembly for Mbiri constituency in 1983. Mbiri was later renamed to Kiharu Constituency.
The Accra Road rename attracted a few tongue-in-cheek reactions with some noting that many people new in Nairobi would often get lost.
"Don't get lost in Nairobi, Accra road is now Kenneth Matiba rd. One thing we pray for is that Afya Center should remain intact so that many people will not get lost," joked a user identified as Kevin.
Other people were calling for the renaming of Kenyatta Avenue.
Below video shows the history of James Gichuru road:
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