Blest be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.

From sorrow, toil, and pain,
and sin, we shall be free;
and perfect love and friendship reign
through all eternity.

File picture Dr Isaac Newton Kiniti

File Picture Walter Kabita and sick daughter Fyona Wanjiku

“Leaders will promise heavens when you meet them in the Diaspora but after arriving in Kenya, your phone is blocked”

When I learned about the predicament of Fyona Wanjiku Kabita through the media, I made an effort to trace the girl’s father, Mr. Walter Kabita, in India, where he has been for more than one year trying to see how his daughter would get help.

When I  finally got in touch with the father of the girl, he told me he had difficulties to fund the third kidney transplant of his daughter since he had exhausted all that he had, and that time was running out. He told me the NHIF GOP funding top-up funds, which he had been promised, were no longer forthcoming, and he had lost all hope of getting help from NHIF even though Fyona had gone to India under the same NHIF scheme under the Ministry of Education which covers such cases. (Same was discontinued)

He told me that the first two kidney transplants had been funded by well wishers who had approached him from nowhere and voluntarily raised money to facilitate those two past kidney transplants. He told me that the  Citizen, Jeremy Damaris, Isaac Kinungi, and his wife, ACK Church, led by Jane Githere, Karangu Muraya, Tuko newspaper, among many of his friends, facilitated the two previous kidney transplants for her daughter but which failed.  Today, she needs a third transplant of her kidney, but he has no money and if the same is not forthcoming, the worst will happen to the young girl as they may be deported back to Kenya without treatment.

He told me that he had met and pleaded with COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli a while ago after they met at the airport. Francis Atwoli had promised to help him, but it became extremely difficult to get hold of him through the phone number he provided him.

He told me that his wife developed depression and stress from his daughter’s ailment and died in February 2019. But he saw some hope when William Ruto visited India recently. Walter told me that after he briefed the Trade and Industry CS Rebecca Miano, who was in India at the time with William Ruto, she would follow up the matter and maybe brief the President. Walter and the sick girl as they waited outside the hotel the President was living in, however never managed to talk to him.

As time passes, Walter is now so much worried about his daughter’s life. The only hope I would suggest to Walter and his daughter Fyona Wanjiku Kabita, is for this matter to be brought to the attention of Raila Amolo Odinga, who has a long history of silently helping Kenyans.

Raila Amolo Odinga bought a house worth millions of Kenya shillings for the late wife of Dedan Kimathi wa Ciuri at Athi River and not many Kenyans knew about it until after the death of Mukami Kimathi. He has silently educated very many Kenyans and even constructed a house for a famous freedom fighter, the late Peter Young Kihara of Githunguri.

I am fully convinced that if this matter is brought to the attention of Hon Raila Amolo Odinga, the young Kenyan girl agonizing in India, will get the required amount (Ksh six million) she needs for her third kidney transplant.

Walter Kabita WhatsApp in India +254 716 727012

Dr. Isaac Newton Kinity.

Diaspora Human Rights Activist