Man sells father’s house to recover wedding funds lost to gambling
The house in Garsen, Tana River County that has been sold for Sh500,000 to recover money lost in a gamble
What would you do if your father gambled away the money you gave him for your engagement party?
Well, a man in Garsen, Tana River County, has sold his father’s house to recover money meant for an engagement and introduction ceremony.
Francis Makasi, 35, had given his father Sh200,000 to help him organise the ceremony at their home scheduled for August 7, only for the old man to lose it in a gamble at a local bar in Garsen.
The father had been seen in local bars entertaining friends and engaging in betting on Olympics soccer games, said Mr Makasi's uncle Joseph Masih.
“He has always been a Brazil fan. One of his friends tells me he lost Sh50,000 in each of the games he was expecting to win. The last loss was a draw between Brazil and Mexico,” he said.
On realising he was left with only Sh25,000, he gave his brother Sh20,000 to keep, and travelled to his rural home in Shirikisho, Tana River, where he has been drinking himself out.
But on Wednesday last week, Mr Makasi came back home to prepare for the ceremony, only to be told his father had moved back to his rural home.
His uncle informed him that the father had left him with Sh20,000 to start preparations.
“That is when he got shocked and told me he had sent his father Sh200,000 and was hoping to find things ready,” Mr Masih said.
Mr Makasi decided to call his father to find out about the plans, and the old man told him to move the ceremony to the rural home.
Garsen Town, Tana River County, where a man has sold his father's house to recover money lost in a gamble
The father claimed he could not carry on with such an important traditional ceremony in his town home far from fellow elders.
Mr Makasi resolved to travel to the rural home on Friday to meet his father and help with the preparations.
On arrival, he found his stepmother at home and his father in a drunken stupor.
“I was not informed about any engagement plans, but when he told his son to work with his uncle to organise the ceremony, I knew there wasn’t going to be one,” said Hellen Magawa, his stepmother.
Mrs Magawa called her stepson aside and told him to find the money for the event or he would be embarrassed.
She told him his father did not have any money and may have misused whatever he was given for the occasion.
Mr Makasi confronted his father in the morning, asking for the money so that he could make arrangements for the party.
It is then that the old man opened up to him about how he lost the money.
“He told him Sh200,000 was not enough for the party and he thought he should gamble it to make more money but lost,” Mrs Magawa said.
Mr Makasi threatened to sell his father’s house in town to recover the money and left the village.
He sold the house for Sh500,000 and immediately left for the Nairobi, his uncle said.
“He has called off the ceremony but we are going to bring them together and ensure the father-son relationship is restored. He still needs his father, he is his father,” Mr Masih said.
Reached for comment, Mr Makasi said he had left the matter with his uncle and elders and the party stands suspended until further notice.
