Ailing former MP Zephania Nyang'wara needs help for transplant

Former Bomachoge MP Zephaniah Nyang'wara at his home in Zambia Ngong,when the Standard Newspaper visited him on 13/10/2015.The one time legislator is battling with Kidney failure and high blood pressure and is requesting wellwishers to support him for Kidney transplant and other medical expenses. (PHOTO: FIDELIS KABUNYI/ STANDARD)

In his heydays as the Bomachoge MP, Zephania Nyang'wara used to rub shoulders with who-is-who in the national political landscape.

But now, the former lawmaker, who is suffering from chronic kidney disease, can barely afford to raise Sh10,000 for a single dialysis session at a Nairobi hospital.

When he is not attending dialysis sessions, the 54-year-old politician whiles away time in a couch at his unfinished Ngong house with his two-year-old granddaughter.

Whenever he needs to bask in the sun, his two wives Eunice and Teresa support him.

"All I do now is shuttle between hospital and home. I am supposed to go for dialysis every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Almost all my friends deserted me," he told The Standard when we paid him a visit.

His ordeal started in 2003 after he lost the elections. Mr Nyang'wara said doctors at a hospital in Kisii County discovered he had diabetes and high blood pressure. From then, he has been in and out of hospital until August this year when he seriously got ill.

"I was referred to a hospital in Nairobi where I was admitted and further tests conducted on me. I was diagnosed with failure of both kidneys and told I needed to get a kidney transplant," he said.

The news hit him like a thunderbolt as he had over the years disposed of most of his property to foot medical bills. It marked the beginning of his tribulations as he could not raise the required amount to undergo a transplant of the two organs.

"A kidney transplant costs not less than Sh1 million, together with the attendant medication. I did not have the money. The remaining option for me as I buy time was to undergo dialysis, a process where my blood is cleaned to remove waste because the kidneys are no longer able to do so," he recounts.

The dialysis sessions have cost the former MP dearly and he is forced to fork out close to Sh150,000 for the visits per month, an amount that has taken a toll on his savings.

The former lawmaker admits his life has taken a downward spiral and apart from failing to pay his medical bills, five of his 11 children have failed to join university because he cannot afford fees.

"I know it may sound strange, but I am appealing to Kenyans and other well-wishers to come to my aid, and assist me raise medical fees to enable me undergo a kidney transplant. My two sisters have volunteered to donate the organs," he pleads.

Nyang'wara, a trained accountant, was a member of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) and Parliamentary Investment Committee (PIC) during his time in Parliament.