By Alex Kiprotich and Vincent Mabatuk

Nakuru, Kenya: Three years ago, Ezekiel Ndeda sat down in his one-room rental house at Stima Line Estate in Nakuru town and wrote to his employer saying he wished to retire.

Little did he know that this would mark the beginning of his tribulations.

Three years later, the 73-year-old is a bitter man whose life is defined by an unending struggle to get what he says belongs to him – his retirement benefits.

On one of the walls in his crammed house is a portrait taken during his youthful days, which contrasts sharply with the lean haggard frame blankly staring at empty sufurias.

On top of a small table in the room overflowing with household items is a piece of ugali and a quarter litre of milk. He told us a neighbour gave him the meal for lunch.

Window curtains, chair cushions, bedding and the floor all but testify of the hard times he has fallen on.

“Because of not being sure of getting any meal in the evening, this is what I left over incase nobody turns up in the evening to help,” he told us.

Narrating the ordeal he has gone through in his bid to have Spur Security Services pay him his retirement dues, the father of three said he has on countless occasions contemplated taking his life.

Pained expression

“Kijana wakati moja nilikuwa kama wewe. Mwenye raha na mawazo mazuri. Sasa, kifo ni heri. (Not long ago, I was living a normal life like you. But right now I’m wishing for death),” he said.

With a pained expression on his face, he narrates how he trekked daily to his work place at Milimani estate, four kilometres away.

At some point, he said, his health could not allow him to walk nonstop and had to make several stops to catch his breath before continuing with his journey.

He told us his handwritten letter was also copied to Sammy Mwaita, the Baringo Central MP, the director of the company, director labour office and provincial labour office.

Ndeda told us that Ministry of Labour found that the security firm was in breach of various labour statutes and gave an order that he be paid Sh87,103.30, the money has not been paid to date.

In one of the corners in his house, a radio, which perhaps would have helped him forget his woes, albeit temporarily, sits unattended. He told us he didn’t have money to buy batteries.

“I did not want to be accused of arriving late at work and that is why I decided to retire after my health deteriorated in 2009,” said the old man, bitterness discernable on his face.

In December that year, I wrote a letter to the Spur Security Services Manager Geoffrey Kulei and copied the same to Sammy Mwaita, the owner of the firm, requesting to proceed for retirement three months later.

At the time he had worked with the security firm for close to ten years, having been employed in August 2000.

In 2010, after sensing that things could only get worse, he sent his entire family to his rural home at Mutete sub-location in Western Kenya.

 

Since then, he said, he has never set his eyes on his wife and three children.

Grey-haired

“The little money I get from friends is not even enough to buy a one way bus ticket,” said the grey-haired man.

As matters stand, the education of his children who are in Standard Five, Six and Eight hangs in the balance, as he doesn’t have any other source of income.

So bad is his situation that he told us he uses pieces of bar soap thrown away by neighbours to wash his clothes.

A caretaker of the plot where he lives, Nancy Jepkosgei, said she learnt of his predicament after he failed to remit Sh700 rent for four months in a row.

“When he informed me about his story, I was shocked and talked to the landlord concerning his plight and we agreed to give him small assignments within the plot to offset the rent,” she said.

Ndeda also does menial jobs such as washing toilets and latrines to get money to buy food.

“Those who hold his money should please release to stop this old man from untold sufferings that he should not be going through at his age,” pleaded the woman.

The retired security guard wants the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo to compel his officers to execute a warrant of arrest issued a year ago against the Baringo Central MP.

He accused officers stationed at Nakuru Criminal Investigation office for failing to produce the MP in court to answer charges in connection with a criminal case No 317 of last year.

A Nakuru court on February 2012 issued a warrant of arrest against Mwaita as a director of Spur Security Services after he failed to attend court following numerous summonses.

Since the order was issued, the case has only been mentioned without the MP being present, with police claiming they can’t trace the legislator.

“If only they can pay me my money I will go back to my rural home. I am afraid I’m getting frail very fast and my strength is running out and maybe I will die before justice is done,” he said.

His only appeal is for Mwaita to sort him out and if he can’t, let the Government come to his aid.