Elderly Kiambaa church victim represents our national shame

By Peter Kimani

Kenya: Attorney General Githu Muigai’s recent defence of the other Muigai, who happens to be the Head of State, was remarkable.

The AG’s growls revealed his contempt for some of the questions put to him, and exposed the ignorance of his interlocutors at the International Criminal Court.

I had no reason to doubt the good professor when he enumerated the huge sums spent in the resettlement programme of post-election violence survivors, as well as the great strides made to restitute the injured.

That was until KTN tracked down the face of the Kiambaa church tragedy who was filmed in January 2008 wailing outside the church holding one torn shoe in her hand. The elderly woman has been on her own, quite literally, unable to access psychosocial support to overcome the trauma that she experienced.

Neither has she received any financial support to help her restart her life.

Personal hygiene

Instead, the neglected woman was infested with jiggers. She had to be helped back on her feet after a neat scrub by activists from a local NGO.

We know jiggers thrive where folks observe poor personal hygiene. But for the elderly Kiambaa victim, it represents a bigger tragedy: a citizen who gave up on life after her country abandoned her.