- Two years ago, the TV actress Mama Baha penned a bitter letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta asking him to help find her kidnapped brother.
- The actress recently uploaded a 15-minute video in which she narrates her family’s pain.
The festive season is usually a time for families to come together and catch up.
But for the family of TV actress Wanjiku Mburu, best known for her role as Mama Baha in Citizen TV’s Machachari, this time of the year is a painful reminder of their missing relative.
Wanjiku’s brother has been missing for five years since he was kidnapped in Mogadishu in January 2014.
George Mburu had jetted off to Somali to work as an engineer when he was abducted together with his cousin. To date, the family has no clue as to their whereabouts.
Two years ago, in 2017, Wanjiku penned a letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta asking him to help find George. In the letter dated December 27, George’s birthday, she wrote:
“Dear my President...I was told not to write to you, others said I should follow [the] chain of command, which I did and after a few attempts to seek an audience with the relevant people we had our 1st meeting and everyone was happy to see ‘us’.
“Well that’s until we told them why we were really there and no sooner did they hear us, there were promises of immediate action...there was “call me 1st thing in the morning...” which I did and this was the narrative...in hushed tones I was told...“I am in a meeting I’ll call you later...” this went on for a while until they no longer bothered to pick my calls...
“See Mr President my brother was kidnapped and it’s now 3 years since and nothing from you or your office...after everything has been said and done, it’s been said and NOTHING done.
“So this is me hoping with everything going on, your reelection, Githeri man rising to fame, you will get to read this and bring my brother home...3 years, I think he has done his “time”.
His children need their father, his wife—a husband, his parents—a son and me—MY BROTHER.
I remain in your service,
Shiku.”
It’s been five years with no word from the government. The actress recently upoaded a 15-minute video in which she narrates her family’s pain.
“This story has become like a nightmare for me and my family. It started off like a bad dream on January 5, 2014,” Wanjiku says in the YouTube video.
“Today [December 27] is my brother’s birthday. Every year, me and my sister we write to his Facebook profile and we write messages to his memory [with] the hope that he is fine.”
She reminisces about her brother’s favourite catchphrase. “He would always tell us, ‘No problem!’.”
The actress says the government has been mum about the issue.
“They told us two things; that the government does not negotiate with terrorists. That is fine, I watched Captain Phillips. But you would everything you can to bring back Kenyan citizens,” Wanjiku says.
“The second thing we were told is to keep quiet about this. It has been six years. Enough is enough and I’m not keeping quiet about this. We have been patient about this. I watch my mum and dad break down every day.”