Zachary Musengi stands next to his mother Margaret as they mourn the late George Saitoti/Photo. FILE
NAKURU, Kenya, Nov 13 – A primary school teacher has moved to court claiming the late Internal Security Minister George Saitoti stole his son 21 years ago.
Sebastian Ngunju Maina and his wife Elizabeth Njeri, a nurse, claim they are the biological parents of the 25-year-old adopted son of the minister, Zachary Musengi.
Maina told Senior Principal Magistrate Jame Mwaniki on Monday that his son disappeared in 1988 from Subukia and he has since discovered that he was in custody of the Saitoti family.
Maina said he identified Musengi during the televised State burial of the former Vice President.
He has moved to court seeking leave to institute private prosecution against the late Minister’s wife. Maina who is represented by Lawyer Hari Gakinya wants to prosecute Mrs Saitoti for wrongfully concealing and confining an abducted person.
In his sworn affidavit, Maina said his third born son in a family of five was kidnapped at their home in Subukia, Nakuru in 1987 only three days to his third birthday.
He narrated how he had been searching for his son for the past 21 years even to a point of pretending to be a mason and working at Saitoti’s home in vain.
He said the woman who kidnapped his son was charged and acquitted prematurely after he was threatened and informed that his son had been taken by the then Vice President’s family.
Maina said efforts to talk to the late Minister’s wife and Musengi after seeing and recognising him on television has been fruitless.
He said he wanted to privately prosecute Mrs Saitoti since the DPP had refused to reopen the case arguing that a person had been charged with the offence.
The 25-year-old adopted son of the late minister who had largely kept away from the public eye despite his father’s high profile eulogised his father as the nation mourned the late minister who died in a plane crash in July.
During Saitoti’s burial in June, Musengi, the only child of the late minister marshalled the courage to extol his late father as a man of great determination, fortitude and one who wanted to exceed his targets.
Saitoti’s son expressed pride in a father he termed as his “legend and hero and who was the backbone and the strength of the family.”
Zachary said that the helicopter crash robbed him of a loving father whom he thanked for ensuring he never lacked anything.
“On the fateful day of the accident, I lost my rock, my Goliath and my dad. As his son, my father gave me more than I could ever dream of… more than I could ever want. He gave me everything; he gave me his love,” he stated.
“He was a man of such wonder that he gave the same that he gave to me and his family but also to thousands if not millions of people around the world,” Zachary recalled.
Zack hailed his father as the pillar of his life and a great mentor who had played a great part in shaping the attitude and the life that he lives.
He did not run shy of acknowledging the various roles that his late father served in the nation of Kenya insisting that he succeeded due to the love he had for the country.
“My father loved this country and its people with every possible fiber of his body. In his illustrious career he poured out his heart and soul in strengthening this nation and securing its future as a land of tremendous opportunity and prosperity,” he said of the man who had served in the ministries of finance, education of internal security as well as vice president for 13 years.
“I will not let you down or the family; you were our backbone, our father, our brother, our uncle, our everything. May the way you lived guide us… empower us and bring us close together,” he said concluding his tribute.
Zachary who describes himself as creative photographer and graphic designer graduated from the University of the West of England with two Bachelor of Arts degrees in photography and in graphic design.
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