Joy Gwendo: The night I shared cell with woman who stabbed her husband

Joy Ngwendo PHOTO: COURTESY

By JACOB NGÉTICH

Kenya: This Easter, Nominated Senator Joy Gwendo is likely to be a little more empathetic to those arrested for failing the alcoblow breathalyser test than previous holiday seasons.

The revelry around her will be a stark reminder to her surprise arrest and overnight incarceration in one of Nairobi’s police cells after she failed a similar test.

Gwendo., 29, recounts with wry humour the night of her arrest after an enjoyable evening out with friends. The second glass of wine at a Langata restaurant, Nairobi, was the poisoned chalice because 20 minutes later, she had been ignominiously hauled from the warmth and comfort of a luxurious Toyota Prado four-wheel drive vehicle into the filthy back luggage carriage of a police pick-up truck on Mbagathi Road.

“I called my bodyguard and informed him that I had been arrested. I asked him to play down the incident as I sat at the back of the police pick-up,” says Gwendo.

At Muthaiga Police Station, she unlike the men arrested, was allowed to step into her tiny, musty cell with shoes. This was a welcome relief as were the humorous conversations in the men’s cells next to hers.

“There were very fascinating accounts of their arrests and comical suggestions of how they would defend themselves in court,” the Senator recalls. Gwendo’s cellmate was a 25-year-old woman who had with her a five-month old baby. The woman had been arrested for stabbing her husband after a domestic brawl.

Critical condition

“She was sobbing and worried about her husband’s condition because by the time she was arrested, her husband was being rushed to hospital in critical condition. She was very worried that her husband would not make it,” said Gwendo.

She continued, “A police officer allowed me to call the hospital using my phone. The nurse on duty informed us that her husband was still alive but in critical condition”.

Gwendo, a former journalist, was not worried that she was now keeping strange company. She says she did not try to use her influence or attempt to bribe her way out of jail.

“I could have attempted to bribe the police or even refused to take the breathalyser test knowing that I had only taken two glasses of wine. However, I told myself that was not leaders do,” she says.

After staying on her feet for over an hour, she began to tire but a kindly officer at the station offered her an empty crate of soda to sit on. At 1:00 am, about 20 women were thrown into the tiny cell, filling it up completely. “Apparently the women had also been arrested for drunk driving and to pass time during this long night, I listened and interacted with them as they regaled us with humorous anecdotes,” she says.

None of the women, except for the one she had introduced herself to, knew she was a politician. “The girls casually talked about their lives; one confiding that she did not know who would bail her out because she had many boyfriends and did not know which one to call. The woman attributed her promiscuity to her early and prolonged exposure to domestic violence, as her father always beat her mother,” says Gwendo.

Another 29-year-old inmate, whose father was an army major, said she was an alcoholic and had been drinking for the better part of the day until her arrest at the Mbagathi police roadblock.

The Senator was released at 9 am the following day after her partner, Thomas Mbewa bailed her out for Sh20,000. Gwendo says that although leaders should be role models, they should not be judged too harshly because they too were human with normal frailties.

Broken law

She acknowledged that she had broken the law and was prepared to face the consequences.

“I wanted to be a regular Kenyan who obeys the law. As leaders we should lead by example. I accepted my mistake, it was a lesson in life and I have moved on,” she observed. She added, “One should not readily condemn us. I am a social drinker but besides that my main agenda in the Senate is to represent the interests of women who have been marginalised for far too long,” said Gwendo.

There is little chance that Gwendo’s job will be on the line because of the dictates of the Integrity Act that requires State officers to be of good moral conduct.

Courts have ruled in previous cases that State officers were those appointed by Government.