![Guests, including members of non-governmental organisations donate foodstuff and other household items to enable Wachira re-start life. Photo/WAIKWA MAINA]()
by Waikwa Maina @PeoplDailyKe
For more than 41 years, he was a prisoner only identifiable by the number KAM/2403/2013/PP. And he knew and accepted it as a matter of course. It was part of his life.
At 32, Peter Wachira was convicted to serve a life sentence for killing a friend after they differed over campaigns handouts. In 2015, he was released from prison, aged 72, under the Presidential Power of Mercy clemency. And that is when the drama started, after he was disowned and rejected by relatives at his Karogoto village home.
“The villagers and relatives were very hostile, they bayed for his blood,” says Nyeri County director of Probation Services Jane Nyaguthii. Faced with rejection from the very people he thought all along he could call his own, Wachira had nowhere to go. It was as if his sentence had been extended beyond prison walls. It was a painful reality for him.
That was until a nephew’s wife heard about his plight. Ruth Wangu promised herself she would do something for her uncle. Wachira was taken to St Joseph Cafasso Consolation House, where he lived with young boys as the government and other stakeholders worked on constructing him a house at a piece of land donated by Wangu’s family.
Wangu says she will give Wachira a new lease of life, promising to ensure he gets a wife. She is planning a colourful wedding, too. “In my family, we embrace all.
When we next invite you, it will be to celebrate Wachira’s wedding, and a colourful wedding it will be,” she told a gathering at her home during a family re-union.
Going by her old semi-permanent house, it is clear Wangu, who is married to Wachira’s nephew Wilson Wachira, is not richer than the ex-convict’s immediate family members.
Her only claim to riches is nine cows, having lost six others between last year and this year to drought. “My husband informed me one day that a friend had told him about an uncle who was still languishing in prison since he had no home to go to. I asked him to visit Kamiti Prison the following day,” she recalls.
“The problem was that after the rejection, Wachira was unwilling to leave prison, as he had no place to go. We discussed his plight with my husband, and we agreed to host him.
If God has blessed us with good health and a home, why abandon our uncle after serving such a long time in prison, for a crime he committed before we were born?” she asked.
The mother of three was determined to convince the community to accept him back and support him while her husband embarked on “repackaging” Wachira. “We had neither cash to build him a house, nor financial muscle.
As you can see, this is a semi-arid area with barren land, and my fears were that we may not fully support him with all his needs,” she said, adding: “We did not want a situation where our responsibility was limited to feeding our uncle, as he stayed idle the whole day, for that would have stigmatised him even more.
Our idea was to give him a better, comfortable but active live to endear him to the community,” she says. Michael Warutere, the local Nyumba Kumi initiative chairman says Wangu convinced the community Wachira was reformed.
“Wangu is very genuine, hardworking, supportive and generous. She has adopted a young child whom she is supporting, and is always supporting and participating in community affairs, we had no reason to doubt her.
She is a very resourceful member of our community,” he said. Mary Mbau, the Probation and Aftercare Services director says Ruth’s family decision to donate a piece of land to their uncle was a breakthrough.
“We visited the home and they identified the piece of land. We sought the assistance of other stakeholders to build a house and purchase other household requirements.
Our partners led by Rodi-Kenya, FARAJA and Power of Mercy Advisory Committee - POMAC supported the initiative,” she said. The NGO’s donated foodstuffs, utensils, beddings, a water tank and furniture.
“To reward Wangu’s family, Rodi-Kenya will train the community in appropriate technologies, farming and entrepreneurship skills. Ruth’s gesture and kindness is unmatched.
Because of that, we are going to offer skills and other support to economically empower the community,” said Rodi-Kenya executive director Ngunjiri Kihoro.
Rodi-Kenya only supports convicts trained in prison, but Kihoro says his organisation was motivated by Ruth’s kindness. POMAC Chief Executive Officer Michael Kagika says community should embrace and accept those released under Presidential Power of Mercy.
He says they go through a rigorous vetting process, which involves tracking a convict’s records before sentencing, conduct in prison, consultation with local communities, security, probation office, leaders and family members.
“Kenyans have no reason not to accept back those released under Presidential Power of Mercy. It is a long process and only those proven to have reformed and are remorseful qualify. I can assure the community that Wachira is reformed and will be a resourceful member of the community,” he said.
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