A father’s quest for justice

First, what appeared to be a typing error denied his son university admission, after which a speeding car killed the son and somebody started playing games on him 

By HARRY MISIKO hmisiko@ke.nationmedia.com Posted Monday, February 21 2011 at 16:18

A small problem about a vowel in his name back in high school was probably a precursor to John Mwangi Gichuru’s impending tragedy.

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Mwangi, the best candidate in Laikipia County in the 2008 Kenya Certificate of Secondary School exams, is no more. He was deprived of his last name, Gichuru, his dream and, finally, his life.

His teachers, probably unknowingly, changed his identity from Gichuru to Gicheru, resulting in a spirited fight between him and his father on one side, and the administration of Ndururumo High School on the other, for four years.

Father and son would eventually lose the war. According to the father, David Mwangi Ng’ang’a, the problem started right after his son was admitted to the school in 2005.

“My son scored 348 marks in the 2004 Kenya Certificate of Primary School exam, and was selected to join Njabini High School, but because it was far away from home, I decided to take him to Ndururumo,” the father recalls.

“He was admitted in Form One under the names that appeared on his KCPE certificate (John Mwangi Gichuru) and given admission number 5699. I paid school fees for four years using that name,” he added.

Ng’ang’a says his son’s report cards from Form One to Form Three bore the same names, and he led the class for four years.

However, in early March 2008 during the registration for the KCSE candidates, the name Gichuru changed to Gicheru under unclear circumstances.

“I personally took the required details — KCPE certificate, three passport pictures and the admission number — to the school examination department, just like the other parents,” he recalls.

Ng’ang’a discovered the sudden change in his son’s name in July 2008 when the district mock exam results were released. Gichuru’s name was not on the list although he was the top student. The list started from Index II onwards.

“The results booklet from Nanyuki did not contain his name. However, after complaining, one teacher, a Mr Mugwanja, showed me the computer list that indicated that my son was top with an A- (minus) of 75 points.”

“He told me his name (the son’s) hadn’t been taken to Nanyuki for inclusion in the booklet. My son came home heartbroken and he explained how he saw his name marked ‘Y’.”

The two were convinced by the teachers that the mock results were not important, and that the vowel “e” in the name would be replaced with “u” before the KCSE exams.

However, the change had not been effected when the Kenya National Examinations Council sent its candidates’ list for confirmation. The name was still reading Gicheru instead of Gichuru.

“My son and I raised the same complaint again. The teacher told me the student should go to class; and that he would rectify the problem.

Gichuru vowed to work hard so that he could pursue the career of his dreams — Medicine,” recalls the father. “Come exam time and my son wrote John Mwangi Gichuru on all answer sheets”.

The high hopes that the boy and his family had for his future turned into a nightmare when the KCSE results were released in March 2009.

Although he had scored a mean grade of A- (minus) of 80 points, one of the names was not his! “The results were in the same name we had complained about and appealed for rectification all year long. My son’s index number (54301/001) bore the name Gicheru instead of Gichuru. I was brokenhearted”.

Headteacher Francis Mwangi would advise that the solution to the problem was for Gichuru to register for a national Identity Card as Gicheru.

“I could not accept that because his birth certificate and KCPE papers bore his right name (Gichuru),” says the father. David tried to change the name on the result slip before admission to university, but his efforts were fruitless.

In November 2009, for instance, the boy’s name was among those that the Joint Admissions Board (JAB) published in a notice asking the concerned students to make the necessary name changes.

“I sent him to Nairobi to make the change, but he failed and was left out in the first selection. When the second selection was done, all the chances in the Faculty of Medicine had already been filled,” recalls the father.

His efforts to secure a national ID hit a snag because the names in his birth certificate and academic papers didn’t match. Undeterred, the father decided to search for a university for his frustrated son.

“I tried the University of Nairobi and Egerton, and finally got a place at Multimedia University, where he was offered a chance to pursue Computer Science,” recalls Ng’ang’a.

Things were finally looking up, father and son thought. But they were wrong. “Nine days before his admission, my son started receiving threatening messages via his cellphone, but he didn’t show us, promising to do so later.”

As fate would have it, David left his home in Ng’arua village on December 19 to Kinamba Trading Centre, where he taught in a computer college, and never came back.

Before his departure that morning, he had one message for his parents “My days of living in this world are over.” The family couldn’t raise him on the phone. Searches at friends’, neighbours’ and relatives’ homes only exacerbated the family’s worries.

“On Monday, December 21, 2009, a neighbour told me that her daughter (Gichuru’s classmate) had received a call from a policeman telling her that Gichuru had been involved in an accident in Kiambu and a relative was required to identify his body at the City Mortuary. My world tumbled,” says the father.

“The police officer who was handling the accident, Constable Kipkemboi Arap Sortum, told me that my son was knocked down by a Toyota Celica on the Kiambu-Ruiru Road, 100 metres from Green Angels Academy. He entered the same number in the police abstract (Number 0207325) issued on March 22, 2010,” Ng’ang’a recalls.

“He (the constable) however released the car and the driver the same night,” claims Ng’ang’a. According to Ng’ang’a, a witness at the scene of the accident told him that Gichuru was knocked down by a dark blue saloon car on December 19 at around 4.45 p.m. but did not die on the spot.

Ng’ang’a gave this newspaper the phone number of the witness — Jackson Wachira, who recalls that police finally got a matatu to rush Gichuru to hospital at around 8:00 p.m., but the injured was first taken to Kiambu Police Station.

Wachira says the officers in charge of the Occurrence Book had been already informed of the accident because a driver had reported that he had knocked down “something” in the dark.

Wachira told our reporter that the officers refused to enter the incident in the OB on the grounds that the officers on duty on the concerned road had to come back to the station first.

“They were later forced to do so by their colleagues, who told them that was not the procedure because the victim needed urgent medication. They handed us a note to take him to hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival,” says Wachira.

“Strangely, when the father met Constable Kipkemboi the following day and asked to be introduced to the witness, the constable was reluctant to do so. Mzee insisted on seeing me and he was given my number,” says Wachira, who claims that the driver and his car were released that very night.

The case was finally filed at the Kiambu Chief Magistrate’s court (Case No: 268/2010 T.C.R 273/2010) and the officer supported Ng’ang’a’s family against the accused, Solomon Njuguna Thuo.

Senior Resident Magistrate Kibucho found the accused guilty and fined him Sh30,000 or a year’s imprisonment in default. “He paid the fine and I decided to purchase the court proceedings. I was surprised to learn that the car in the completed case was a Toyota Celica Reg No. KBJ **** (digits and letter withheld) and not KBC****(digits and letter withheld) as was recorded in the Police Abstract form.”

And even though Ng’ang’a, 52, paid Sh350 for the proceedings, they were printed halfway and not stamped as required by the law.

“I have been there four times. They told me the magistrate was transferred and his handwriting is illegible, and that the process might take a whole a year,” laments Ng’ang’a.

The old man followed up the case with the Central Province Police Boss (PPO) in Nyeri, John Mbijiwe, and he admitted that police had erred.

Consequently, officer Mbijiwe referred him to Mr Lawrence Arimi, the officer in charge of traffic complaints in the province. On scrutinising the complainant’s file, Arimi instructed the police to prepare another abstract for the old man.

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