Wajackoyah's Mysterious Childhood: Surviving a Python & Being Haunted By Death

wajackoyah
Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah.
George Wajackoyah

Roots Party Presidential candidate George Wajackoyah's childhood was marred with tragedy and misfortune. 

Wajackoyah's story begins with his mother being unable to give birth when she got married and the large dowry paid by her in-laws signified that they expected her to start giving them children as soon as she stepped into their compound.

That was not the case. Melenia Makokha stayed for two years without giving them a grandchild and there were whispers in the community that she was a witch - in accordance with the local myths. 

However, she gave birth to George Luchiri Wajackoyah in 1959 - even though the suspicion about her would linger on for years. 

Roots Party Presidential candidate George Wajackoyah and his family at the house his mother lived in for 49 years.
Roots Party Presidential candidate George Wajackoyah and his family at the house his mother lived in for 49 years.
Courtesy Wajackoyah

Melenia managed to prove the ideologies of the community wrong but tragedy struck again when she was giving birth to a daughter. The infant died during childbirth and the community labelled her a witch. She was excommunicated from the community.

They built a small house for Makokha outside the village where she lived alone. Wajackoyah now became the target of spiteful neighbours and relatives. 

When he was six years old, Wajackoyah was attacked by a python and he survived with partial injuries. The community started whispering that he had diabolical powers just like his mother.

He was seen as an outsider growing up. In 1969, Wajackoyah recalled that it was raining heavily and he and other children from his school went to borrow from a woman who sold porridge.

As they were waiting for the woman to give them the porridge, lightning struck and killed the porridge seller and another woman. Wajackoyah survived with serious burns but became the subject of questions and doubt among members of his community. 

"I wanted to run back to my mother, whom by then I had forgotten her face. But I knew she lived somewhere on the road heading to Busia so I went there in search of her. On the way, I met a truck driver who offered to give me a lift to Nairobi," the presidential candidate narrated in a past interview. 

Unknown to him, the seemingly good Samaritan was a paedophile and when they got to Nairobi, he took the young boy to his house and locked it to go buy milk. According to Wajackoyah, the man was hit by a vehicle and died on the same day they got to the city. 

Wajackoyah had to leave the man's house and he became a street boy. During his stay in the streets of Nairobi, in Ngara, he interacted with Indians who would bring food to the children and he ended up living with one of the worshippers.

"I grew up in the streets the harsh streets of Nairobi and eventually I joined the Hare Krishna and Hari Rama so they used to come to the streets to give us what we call Pree Chatham and then I went to the temple in Ngara I grew up in Ngara they took me to school.

"One of the worshipers Mr Ramlan Shama of City High School took me from the temple to his home in Ngara where Pioneer International University is that is the former City High School yeah where I was privileged to go to school," he recounted.

Roots Party Presidential candidate George Wajackoyah met his mother in Mogotia in 2012.
Roots Party Presidential candidate George Wajackoyah met his mother in Mogotia in 2012.
Courtesy Wajackoyah

"My classmates included people like Reuben Ndolo and people like Ranallo of the Ranallo restaurant who can attest to what I'm saying. Eventually, J.J Kamotho adopted me not as a son but as a guardian by then he was Minister for Higher Education and he sponsored my high school education," he added.

Years later, the same misfortune that had followed him in childhood struck again while he was working as a Special Branch Intelligence Officer who was assigned to investigate the murder of former Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko

Wajackoyah is one of the few witnesses who survived the mysterious murders that followed tho who got involved in the investigation.

In total, 17 witnesses died in unclear circumstances but the Roots presidential candidate had his life saved by the US government which facilitated his escape to the UK where he lived for many years in exile - at some point having to change his name for protection purposes. 

Wajackoyah reunited with his mother after 49 years and he planned for her to visit his family in the UK and the USA. He noted that she had been working as a sisal cutter in Mogotio.

Wajackoyah planned to also fly his mother to Hawaii for a vacation. He also recalled the house she lived in which he noted was too small he could not also enter. 

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