A dead father and missing mother: Man’s troubles continue after 15 years in jail

In February 2011, Musa M’Tumwari was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of defiling a 10-year-old girl.

But after an appeal, his sentence was reduced to 15 years.

Last November, the judges ruled that since he was in remand for three years, and had been in jail for 12 years, he had served the full jail term. 

Last Friday, he was released from Kisumu Maximum Prison and transferred to Meru.

Then on Monday evening, prison officers drove him to Kianjai, Tigania West, and told him to go home. For the first time in 15 years, Mr M’Tumwari tasted freedom.

The free man thought he would go back home and rebuild his life shattered by a crime he committed at the age of 23.

He had even thought of courting a woman for marriage so that he could build a family, he said.

With only a bag that contained his clothes and without enough money since the prison warders gave him only Sh200, he took a boda boda and asked the rider to take him to Nkiluthu village in Athwana ward, about 15 kilometres from Kianjai market.

But not even his 15 years behind bars during which he was incarcerated in four separate prisons in the country had prepared him for what he was about to experience. 

To his shock, his father died six years ago, while his mother and younger brother disappeared a year later.

Mr M’Tumwari also discovered that Mr Joseph Kailikia, a relative, had built a house on his piece of land. There was no one to receive him. He was homeless.

“I was told that after my father died my mother developed mental problems and just left. The same happened to my brother who I have been told has not been seen for several years now," he narrated on the roadside about 500 metres from home.

“What do I do now?” he asked. “I have no family, my land was grabbed and it seems they thought I would never come back. They even wished I would die in prison and it hurts to imagine that my own relatives thought ill of me. Even when I was in prison nobody came to visit,” he said, angry.

Ms Marsela Monjero, a resident, said she knew the family and recalled that Mr M’Tumwari’s mother disappeared several years ago. 

“She was mentally disturbed and when her husband died, she mysteriously vanished. Since then I have not seen her,” she said.

There was drama when area manager Joshua Thuranira stormed the home accompanied by some villagers and demanded to know why Mr Kailikia had occupied the piece of land.

“This is a member of this village and everybody knows him. He was jailed, but since there is life after prison, we need to accommodate him,” said Mr Thuranira.

However, Mr Kailikia denied he had grabbed the land, claiming that his father had donated it to the family and  that before Mr M’Tumwari’s mother left, she handed it back to his father.

“The land he's claiming was not theirs in the first place. When it dawned on his mother that she could not cope with the demands of growing crops, she handed it back to my father,” he said.

He, however, added that the family had no problem with Mr M’Tumwari and they would consider giving him a piece to settle. 

“We buried his father here and he can settle on the piece of land," he said.

Area MCA Jim Muchui said he would mobilise members of the community to contribute money and build a house for Mr M’Tumwari.

“This is a man I know very well because we interacted when we were young and we will help him rebuild his life. But the government should come up with a system of integrating back into society those who have been jailed for long. It was unfair for the officers to just dump him at the nearest shopping centre and ask him to go home,” Mr Muchui said.

“If he's not given proper attention, he might decide that since he's not welcome home, prison is his option, and commit another crime. But we will ensure this does not happen," he added.

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