Facing life after decades in jail

By Michael Oriedo

Paul Nakwale Ekai stares pensively at an envelope containing two documents that summarise his life for the past three decades.

He hopes a letter of good conduct and a certificate will help him start a new life.

"I have lived in prison most of my productive years," he says. "I was incarcerated at 18. Everything is now new. I am a stranger even to my family," says the 52-year-old man.

Ekai captured the world’s attention in 1980 when he was accused of killing renowned wildlife conservationist, Joy Adamson.

Then working for Adamson at Shaba Game Reserve in North Eastern Kenya, he was convicted of murder and subsequently jailed.

Ekai was one of Kenya’s longest serving prisoners and was released on May 27 by a presidential pardon after staying in jail for 30 years.

"I saw my life crumbling after the sentence. My appeal was not successful," recalls Ekai.

However, despite being imprisoned for decades for the offence, he denies killing his former employer.

Sad memories

"I was a sacrificial lamb," he says with a quivering voice. "Joy Adamson was like my mother. I would never have killed her. Her husband, George Adamson was my father’s close friend. I became his servant because of their relationship."

As he talks about Joy Adamson, Ekai goes into a trance. "She had uplifted my life and promised me several things, all which were shattered by her death."

When he began his jail term on February 2, 1980, Ekai was a hopeless man. "It was like being shoved into a bottomless pit where death was guaranteed," he laments.

However, three decades later, Ekai is proud of his contribution in prisons. "I have lived in Kamiti, Naivasha and Nyeri prisons. I am an expert on prison matters," he says.

Before his release, he was the longest serving trusty in Kenyan Prisons. "I was appointed a trusty in 1983 after staying in prison for three years and retained the honour until my departure," he says.

As a trusty, he was in charge of discipline and the carpentry section. "I used to counsel prisoners and was a mediator between warders and inmates," he recalls. "I would also forward prisoners’ grievances to authorities."

Ekai grabbed every learning opportunity and has virtually studied all the courses offered.

According to a letter signed by the officer-in-charge of Nyeri Prison, Ekai is a qualified mason, carpenter, mechanic, polisher, tailor and electrician among other trades.

Life skills

"I took every chance I got in prison to learn. I loved carpentry most. I designed and made seats currently used by senior government officials," he proudly says.

Besides, he is also a choirmaster, a guitarist, a music composer, a pastor and a farmer. "I composed several Christian songs although they were not recorded," he says.

He attributes his successful stay in prison to his involvement in many activities. "Prison life can break one’s nerves if you do not keep yourself busy," he notes. "A day in jail can be so long if you keep thinking about your misery."

However, Ekai is not yet a freeman. "I came out of prison only to be jailed by misery. My life has gone full circle. I am in a worse situation than I was in when I was a teenager 31 years ago," a sorrowful Ekai says as he shakes his head.

Prisons authorities gave him Sh400 to travel from Nyeri to his home in Chechelis, Isiolo District.

"I found that all my brothers and sisters had died. I could barely recognise their children though they welcomed me warmly," he says.

He stayed in Isiolo for sometime before finding the going tough. "By virtue of my age, I was the head of the home but how do you lead when you cannot provide?" he poses.

Ekai blames his woes on the abolished Prisoners’ Earning Scheme.

"During my initial years in jail, prisoner’s used to earn some money which would help them upon their release. Now you can spend even 50 years in jail and come out without a single coin," he laments.

"I spent 30 years working for prisons as a designer. I made high quality furniture, which prisons authorities sold. But when I was released, there was nothing to help me restart my life," he says painfully.

He is currently sheltered at Philemon Trust Halfway House in Nairobi’s Waithaka area and hopes to start a carpentry workshop.

Getting new beginning

Mr Dennis Gekara, the Halfway House Manager says Ekai is experienced and resourceful. "When he arrived here, we took him for counselling to help him cope with life outside prison," he says.

He has witnessed the best and the worst of Kenya’s prisons and says the president’s decision to commute death sentences to a life imprisonment was the best gift to prisoners.

"There is no worse punishment than waking up every morning waiting to die. These convicts will now mix freely with others and learn skills that would help them," he notes.

He reckons that the move will reduce crime in prison. "The law does not allow death row inmates to work. They are always idle and had plenty of time to plot crimes," he observes.

Ekai hopes to begin a family and he is optimistic that he will use his experiences in jail to educate people not to engage in crime.