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Elated 100-year old granny returns home after release from jail


Jubilation greeted the release of a 100-year old grandmother from prison after Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko offset her Sh100,000 cash bail.

Ms Margaret Ngima Gakoromo had been languishing at the Embu GK prison for nine days for contempt of court.

She walked out of the prison at exactly 6.43 p.m Thursday and was received by the members of the Sonko Rescue Team who broke into song and dance.

She was handed her belongings – which included about Sh300 – and then taken to her Kangaru home at 7.30 p.m.

HOMESICK

The grandmother said she had been homesick and missed looking after her goats and chicken and watching her grandchildren play.

She said she was yet to comprehend the events that led to her imprisonment.

“I just want to go home and see my goats and chicken and see my home. I have undergone a lot of stress. I pray that the Lord blesses Sonko for what he has done for me. I was stuck here and didn’t have hope,” she said in Kiembu.

Mrs Margaret Ngima Gakoromo addresses journalists after her release from the Embu GK prison. PHOTO | NAIROBI NEWS
Mrs Margaret Ngima Gakoromo addresses journalists after her release from the Embu GK prison. PHOTO | NAIROBI NEWS

Ms Ngima said she was concerned that her sons are still in jail and had little children who had been left without minders.

Ms Ngima’s son, Mr Patrick Mbogo, said they were concerned that their mother would suffer in jail owing o her poor healt.

“We are glad to have her back in our home. She had been knocked down by a bicycle last year and broke her right shoulder which causes constant chest pains,” he said.

Two of her sons, Mr Peter Njue, 72, and Mr Angelo Gichovi are being held in the men’s section of the prison after they were also found guilty of contempt of court.

LAND DISPUTE

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-acre land in Nthambo area of Embu County since 1997.

Both 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.

Mr Njue has four school going children while Mr Gichovi’s last born is in Class One.

“Who will educate them now that they have been jailed?” posed Ms Ngima.

Mr Pius ‘Pinye’ Njeru Muriithi, the coordinator of the Sonko rescue team Central region, said they intended to take the elderly lady for medication in Nairobi.

“The senator is planning to pay a visit to see what he can do for the family,” he said.

MEDICAL CHECK-UP

“Sonko Rescue team will later perform a full medical check-up to make sure that she is okay after the unexpected humiliation she underwent. Let us learn to respect, love and protect the elderly, especially women. They took care of us when we were young and it is our turn to take real care of them. We also call for further investigations into the land saga,” he said.

On his Facebook page, Mr Sonko called for a probe into the land dispute to establish if there was any foul play involved.