Jailed Embu grandmother closer to freedom

Embu Governor Martin Wambora has paid bail for the release of a 100-year-old grandmother, who has been held at the Embu GK Prison for the past nine days.

He engaged lawyer Wairimu Rugaita to pay the Sh100,000 cash bail to save Margaret Ngima Gakoromo from serving a three month jail term.

However, as at 5.30pm on Thursday, Ms Ngima had not walked free since a release order had not been delivered from the court.

Embu GK Prison Deputy Officer in-charge of the women’s wing Sarah Mulatya said Ms Ngima would probably spend another night in prison.

On Thursday, Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti also announced he would donate Sh100,000 to the elderly woman.

Ms Ngima was jailed for three months for failing to attend court and was counting on her sons, who eke a living doing menial work, to raise Sh100,000 for bail.

Ms Ngima, from Kangaru in Embu West, is yet to come to terms with why she was incarcerated at the Embu GK Prison and seems disoriented.

Arguably the oldest inmate the prison has ever had in the recent past, the mother of four surviving sons is facing a social and culture shock since many of the inmates she spends time with are relatively young.

Currently fighting a bout of several aches, she walks around the facility with the aid of a walking stick and has to be washed and her room cleaned by a fellow inmate.

IS STRUGGLING

Unlike the colourful and eventful village routine she is used to, Ms Ngima has had to adjust fast to the stark life of incarceration, with limited movement.

Her day starts at 7am with breakfast after which she helps with sorting chaff from the beans used to prepare the inmates’ meals.

“I have met new people and new way of life. The prison officials have helped me adjust and settle and the meals and sleeping place are okay. I have someone who cleans my room and bathes me. However, I would like to see my friends with whom we spend time with,” she told reporters at the facility.

Ms Ngima says she had dutifully attended court and never missed a hearing.

Prison Welfare Officer Chepkoech Maiyo says Ms Ngima is well taken care of and usually gets a meal of chapatis and porridge.

She says Ms Ngima is struggling with a hearing problem, has difficulty walking and must have someone assigned to assist her.

“She appears disoriented and lost in thoughts. Sometimes you talk to her and she doesn’t hear you. She seems eager to go home,” said Ms Maiyo who notes that the inmate has only been visited once.

LAND CASE

Two of Ms Ngima’s sons, Peter Njue and Angelo Gichovi, are being held in the men’s section of the same facility after they were also charged with contempt of court.

Ms Ngima was found guilty of ignoring a court order to allocate a two-acre parcel of land to Ms Justa Wawira who has been demanding a share of the family’s five acres in Nthambo in Embu County since 1997.

Both Mr Njue and Mr Gichovi were sentenced to six months imprisonment for failing to obey orders to revert the family land, which had been subdivided into eight parcels, to its original state so the complainant could be allocated her share.

Ms Wawira’s father — who is not related to Ms Ngima’s family — had rented part of the land and is said to have claimed a share before he died.

But Ms Ngima, who is illiterate, desperately clings on to the hope that two of her sons who are free and work in construction would raise the Sh100,000 required for her freedom.

“I am waiting for my sons to raise the amount to secure my release. Though they are struggling to even put food on the table, I still believe one day they will raise the money. That is what they told me,” she said.

Ms Mulatya said Ms Ngima looked frustrated.

“Other inmates are not her age and she is not comfortable socially,” she said.