Kepha Ogoka, the 31-year-old man from Nairobi’s Lucky Summer who risked life and limb when he jumped in front of the presidential motorcade, has revealed what drove him to the suicidal move.
Ogoka, popularly known as Aswani, yesterday narrated his harrowing experience at the hands of the presidential security in his effort to catch the attention of the head of state.
When we sought the man for an interview, we found him in Lucky Summer in the company of his friends.
He is still fearful that the police will pursue him following the Wednesday afternoon incident that has shocked many.
While some of his friends see his action as heroic, others termed this stunt suicidal.
Ogoka was the talk of the neighbourhood and it was evident that he had gained some celebrity status.
But Ogoka says he does not regret his actions even as it remains clear that he had put his life in danger.
“Problems drove me to do what I did,” Ogoka said.
When he left his bedsitter in Lucky Summer on the material day, Ogoka did not have concrete plans.
He was distraught when he realised there was only one tea spoonful of sugar left after preparing black tea for his last-born daughter. His mission was to find some menial jobs to feed his family.
He left his house a few minutes after 7am for a nearby a carwash. There he met friends who informed him that the president would be visiting the area to commission a new slaughterhouse.
It did not take long before the first car in the president’s motorcade made its way to the area where Ogoka and his friends were sitting.
One by one the security vehicles came speeding and Ogoka could tell that the head of state was just around the corner.
As the president’s car approached where Ogoka and his friends were, he says he saw President Uhuru Kenyatta stretch out his hands as if he was pointing at him.
Without thinking he lunged forward. Two presidential security guards pounced on him and pushed him out of the road. He hurt his left ear when he landed on a mkokoteni by the roadside.
“Kijana tutaongea,” Ogoka recalls the president’s last words before the police pounced on him.
He says he is still hopeful that the president’s handlers will reach out to him and make arrangements for him to have a word with Uhuru.
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