For James Kinuthia, 64, trouble came in threes.
His wife died more than 30 years ago; he was immobilised after an accident in Nairobi five years ago and has since been wheeling himself in reverse to a nearby township every day to beg from well-wishers. To add to his miseries, he was dispossessed of his 14-acre land in 2014.
The old man from Kawaida village in Kiambu has been using a faulty wheelchair that only goes one way – reverse.
But his misery was recently eased after paralympics champion Henry Wanyoike donated a new wheelchair.
His rescue came after nominated MCA Lilian Mwaura spotted him on several occasions along the Ndumberi-Limuru road on his old wheelchair.
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He had become a concern not only to neighbours but road users of Kawaida and the Ndumberi-Limuru road, where he wheeled himself from his home to Ndumberi shopping centre every day to beg for food.
His life took a downward spiral when he was involved in an accident at Ngara in Nairobi five years ago.
“I was crossing the road in Ngara near Fig Tree Hotel when a vehicle hit me. My right knee was injured and I became immobile,” he said.
After Kinuthia’s wife died, his mother-in-law took his three children with her and he has never set his eyes on them for over 30 years now.
Kinuthia leads a solitary life in village away from other people as his house is located just a few metres from Riara River.
Every evening, he has to slide on his bottom to his house. In the morning, he crawls on all fours and to get to the main road so as to climb onto his wheelchair.
Bridged destroyed
“Every day I have to pay a neighbour Sh10 to assist me up the hill to the main road where I begin my journey to Ndumberi to beg for food and another Sh10 to get water from the river,” he added.
He said the journey was easy until two years ago when a bridge he used as a shortcut to Ndumberi was destroyed.
Kinuthia was later conned by a relative who sold off his 14-acre land and later bought him a 50-by-100-feet parcel just 100 metres next to the Riara river.
“For a man with disability like me, how am I supposed to go uphill or downhill on a wheelchair? I have no one to take care of me and food is a major problem,” he said.
Kinuthia says he misses his children but he was told he has no land to give to them.
He is appealing to well-wishers to help him undergo an operation to enable him to walk and work for himself.
He says he has sought help from the governor’s office in Kiambu in vain and has also written a letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta to assist him get his leg operated on.
“For now, I just want help to get food, which is a major issue for me,” he said.
Kinuthia said he has to go all the way to Ndumberi to beg for food as he has no other means of feeding himself.
He said matatu operators cannot give him a lift as he is viewed as a bother due to his condition and lack of money.
Joseph Ngengi, a resident of Kawaida, said he had been seeing the man on the wheelchair on the Limuru-Ndumberi road every day for two years, but he never thought he was neglected.
“You see people nowadays do not care; it is every man for himself and God for us all,” he said.
Wanyoike, who is also a nominated MCA, said he had come to learn about Kinuthia about four months ago. Through his Henry Wanyoike Foundation, he visited the old man and donated the wheelchair.
He said he is ready to assist more people with disabilities.
Area MCA Philip Mubea said he will make arrangements to ensure Kinuthia benefits from the cash transfer system for the elderly and persons living with disability.
