Shirleen Mukami, a teen mother who went viral after making public her suffering, and her alleged boyfriend Kenneth (Cabu Gah) Gachie have surrendered to law enforcers at Kasarani Police Station after they were accused of raising funds under false pretence.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke on Tuesday morning, November 16, a close friend of Gachie refuted reports that he was apprehended on the previous night after WhatsApp screenshots of an alleged conversation between him and his allies leaked.
The screengrabs shared on blogger Edgar Obare’s Instagram stories, alleged that Gachie coached Mukami on how the duo would raise funds to purchase a vehicle while pretending to be fundraising for single mothers.
Mukami further told Kenyans.co.ke that she accompanied Gachie to Kasarani to record statements on the allegations. She wanted the police to trace the origin of the screengrabs and investigate the individual who leaked them to blogger Obare.
“Hey. I’m actually with him here. We want them to launch investigations on the alleged screenshots.
“I'm here with my team to clear the confusion. We are innocent and haters will not jeopardize our campaign. Thanks,” Mukami responded.
As of Tuesday morning, November 16, no report had been filed at any police station against the two, whose story went viral on social media. Police officers at Kasarani had also not responded to queries on the two presenting themselves at the police station by the time of going to press.
Mukami, in a statement shared on her social media pages, distanced herself from the alleged syndicate, stating that she was not aware of Gachie’s conversation with his friends. She, however, neither confirmed nor denied reports alleging that the two were in an intimate relationship.
“I, a single mom, approached Kenneth Gachie to help me popularise my initiative. As stated here already, he has been good at that and successfully did a campaign for his sister last year to buy an electric wheelchair and make donations to spinal injury victims."
"I've known Kenneth to be good with social media and believed he would help popularize my initiative and he did," she defended herself.
The whistleblower who reached out to Obare alleged that Gachie was the father of Mukami’s five-month-old child. The lady previously claimed that her boyfriend rejected her and failed to take responsibility for the kid.
She thus formed an initiative dubbed Baby Shower Sister Initiative to aid women who go through similar predicaments. Prior to the screenshots going viral on social media pages, Kenyans had raised over Ksh848,000 for Mukami and her single mother friends.
Mukami stated that the funds were still intact and the group was will act after being advised by their lawyers.
The alleged plan to swindle Kenyans elicited mixed reactions online.
“So apparently, this heart-wrenching appeal by Shirleen was a fraud! I promoted it and donated 10k. Do I regret it? Regret what? Having empathy for a presumably young single mum wanting to do something good? No! If she and/or her baby daddy are fraudsters, that's on them,” Dr Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) stated.
“Shirleen Mukami should return my Ksh1,030 I sent in good faith for the circus baby shower,” one Clinton Murila differed.
