Unfortunate twist: Once wealthy Nairobi engineer’s family faces auction

Catherine Wairimu Wambogo (R) wife to late Wambogo who was a civil engineer, and Isabella Wanjiru (L) daughter, narrate how Nairobi County Government wants to evict them. [PHOTO: EDWARD KIPLIMO/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: A popular legend among Engineer Jenneby Wambugu Kirige’s relatives is that his exceptional brilliance once provoked a missionary educationist to make a journey to his Nduma Village, hunting for him.

Sharp witted to the bone, Wambugu had joined Alliance High School, at the time when Carey Francis’s reputation of churning out creditors for the nation, not debtors, was at its peak.

He struck a good rapport with the famed mathematician zealot but for whatever reason, Wambugu was unable to go back to school after a few school terms. It is then, it is said, that Carey Francis went looking for him.

His classmates, it is said, included former Cabinet Minister and current Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o among others. Wambugu would go on to become one of post-independence’s first civil engineers and toss himself into the lucrative consultancy world until the “curse of the bottle” afflicted him in late 1980s.

His world began to assume a familiar curve, the stuff the story of Barrack Obama’s Kenyan father is made of: sound education, good job, chaotic family life, the drink, then death. His family, usually a man’s last fortress against all earthly assails, became his succor as friends deserted him. He would later transmit his troubles onto his immediate family.

A visit to his Nairobi West home along Kodi Road, a home he had bought on mortgage through the Housing Finance, is a glaring testimony to the unfortunate turn-around of a man relatives say was a very blessed soul.

CUMMULATIVE ARREARS

Outside, a glaring Nairobi City Council notice informs you that this is the home of Jenneby K Wambugu, and is on attachment. The notice is straight from the governor’s office and is part of the “operation clamp down” targeting land rate defaulters.

“In the matter of Section 18 of the Rating Act and in the matter of attachment of rent by Nairobi City County, notice is hereby given that Jenneby K Wambugu building on LR No37/258/28 is hereby put under the management of Nairobi City County from the date of this notice.”

The money he owes the City County in cumulative rate arrears and penalties since 1990, Sh4.5 million, is inscribed against his name in the notice. But the man is pushing up the daisies in his birthplace of Mukurweini, having passed on last year in March. The burden has passed on to his generation.

A rusty metal-bar gate, a disheveled fence and a quaint housing block stares at you as from Kodi Road. It is a complete contrast of the neighbouring houses with fresh paint, well-kept lawns and flourishing flowers and life.

On the front of the house sitting on an estimated an eighth of an acre, an overgrown “umbrella tree”, probably planted in the 1980s and probably where the engineer would cool his heels from the drawings, repels you. Recently, it has had to be pruned as the branches roped power lines running across the estate.

The garden behind the house is unkempt and growth unmitigated. Loquats, mangoes, avocado and all types of fruit trees are sprouting all over. Her daughter, Isabella Wanjiru, welcomes us through the rusty gates but holds us under the umbrella for a chat. She is frail, jobless and worn out. Taking care of her siblings has sucked the verdure of life out of her. “Our dad was an alcoholic for many years. The rates, unknown to us, have not been paid for many years. He passed away last year,” she informs us in “fine” English, as she struggles to explain the family situation.

I suggest we sit down for a proper chat and she ushers us in the house. From the door, a pungent smell wafts about in cold silence. It was not long before we figured out why.

Tucked on a corner slimy-seat in the kitchen on the ground floor is Brian Wambugu, the second last born of the Wambugus. Once a bubbly youth, Brian has been confined in this seat for years after a “strange” disease afflicted him.

“He dropped in Form Three from Strathmore around 1998. He was a very bright boy. Look at how handsome he still is despite the sickness,” Mercy Warui, a relative remarks as she nudges Brian to say a word.

This is where Brian wakes up, helps himself out, yawns and eats from, and where he drools over himself all day long. He sits there facing the door, waiting on some imaginary help, but so far none has come forth. The only help that might come his way soon is the City County eviction team.

And he is not alone. As we stood there, motionlessly contemplating the possible helpline for Brian, his elder brother David descended from upstairs to check on us. It turns out his sister had flushed him out of his upstairs hide out to check us out.

PRESENT CONDITION

His hair tufted into thick lumps; he obviously has not felt the warmth of a bath water in a long time. He grimaced at all our questions and scratched his buttocks all through our semi-engagement.

Born in 1976, he cleared his O’ levels at Upper Hill Secondary School in 1993 and did a clearing and forwarding course before he relapsed into his present condition. He has never worked. He cannot work anywhere.

Unlike Brian, one can strike a conversation with David, if he or she is patient. I was not patient though, because I did not have the luxury of time on my side so I left him pulling up his falling shorts.

Before we could get out, we heard a commotion outside the gate. City County askaris were uprooting their own notice against the Wambugus. Mrs Warui challenged them to explain why they were pulling it down.

“We are the ones who put it up so when you see us take it down, you should assume things are not so bad,” they joked as they threw it on the back of their truck. Good riddance. For the Wambugus, in their current state, have a snowball in hells chance of raising Sh4.5 million.

All the while, Catherine Wanjiru, Engineer Wambugu’s wife and the mother of Isabella, Brian and David watched the happenings while seated beside a neighbours flower bed. We had not met her yet and we thought she was probably running around trying to salvage the house.

But she was not even aware of the happenings or at least she did not sound aware. When we talked to her, she said she had just stepped outside her house to enjoy the sun and get fresh air. She actually needs fresh air.

NOTICE FOR ARAB NEIGHBOOURS

“The notice does not concern us at all. They told me they put it up for these Arab neighbours of ours and even the message therein was meant for them. Haituhusu kabisa (it has nothing to do with us)”. The retired police officer told her, contradicting the obvious. After engaging her for a short while, it emerged that she, too, has a problem of comprehension. There are only two members of the family whom we did not meet. Andrew, the eldest, also jobless, and Lewis the last born.

Clearly, a dysfunctional family, relatives say they need help to save both themselves and the home. “We are hoping the county authority can grant us a waiver on the penalties bit and we as an extended family we will cater for the principal amount. We also hope the County Social Welfare Department will help us get this family back on track,” Warui says.