The nightmare started when he realised he could lose his inheritance.
When Francis Mwai Njoroge learnt that somebody had hived off a portion of his three-and-a-half acre piece of land in Kiarutara, near Thika, he knew it was time to fly back home.
And when he disembarked from British Airways Flight 065 at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, on March 23, at 9.30pm, he expected to be reunited with his 83-year-old mother in a matter of hours.
“When I left Kansas City in the United States of America, I expected to be back in three weeks. My estimation was that this time was sufficient to sort out the land dispute and be back to my work as a cook,” explains 57-year-old Njoroge.
He is now caught up in the pandemic warfare. Even if he was to get a flight back to the US, he would, land in a county which is now the epicentre of the virus.
By yesterday, the US had recorded more than 503,177 cases, almost a third of the global 1,710,338 cases, and about 9,000 deaths.
“I was thoroughly screened and tested at Kansas. When we reached London, all passengers in the plane were made to sign forms that they would self-quarantine,” Njoroge recalls.
However, when the plane touched down at JKIA, he says that the captain announced that the Kenya government had decreed that all passengers would have to be placed in mandatory quarantine.
This led to a three-hour hiatus as the passengers haggled and argued with government officials until the about 100 passengers agreed to report to Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in Nairobi at 11am the following day.
And like a moth fluttering its way to a lamp and to destruction, Njoroge reported to KMTC clad in a T-shirt. He had some cash he hoped would cater for the cost of tests that may be required.
“I was shocked to learn that I could not leave the place as I was now under mandatory quarantine. I resisted, insisting that I did not have the money to pay. But I was promised that I would be taken to a government facility where I would not pay anything.”
At one point, Njoroge says that he had to plead to be allowed to go to his house in Umoja to pick medicine for high blood pressure.
Rely on my relatives
A day after he was moved to Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete, he called his brother, Patrick Njoroge to bring him a change of clothes, drugs and personal effects.
“I have been tested several times. During my stay, four people at the facility who tested positive were whisked to hospital for treatment,” Njoroge says.
He lives in a self-contained room where he does his laundry and cleans because no other person is authorised to access the facility.
“I am supposed to pay Sh28,000 for the 14 days I have spent so far. I am penniless and have to rely on my relatives to send me money even for credit,” Njoroge lamented.
And now it appears he might not, after all, even do what brought him here. If he is released today, he will not be able to travel to his home in Murang’a following the restriction of movement into and out of Nairobi.
“I had requested permission for three weeks. I was scheduled to return to the US on April 26. This may be a tall order given that Kenya has banned international flights,” Njoroge adds.
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